Page 0: Page 1: Living Root Bridges in India and Japan.......Root Bridges of India In the depths of northeastern India , in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren't built -- they're grown. Page 2: Page 3: Page 4: Grown from the roots of a rubber tree, the Khasis people of Cherapunjee use betel-tree trunks , sliced down the mi ddle and hollowed out, to create "root-guidance s ystems." When they reach the other side of the ri ver, they're allowed to take root i n the s oil. Gi ven enough time a s turdy, l ivi ng bridge is produced. Page 5: The root bri dges, s ome of which are over a hundred feet l ong, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they're extraordinarily s trong. Some ca n support the wei ght of 50 or more people at once. One of the most unique root structures of Cherrapunjee i s known as the " Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge ." It consists of two bridges stacked one over the other! Page 6: Page 7: Beca use the bridges are alive and still growing, they a ctually ga in strength over time, a nd s ome of the a ncient root bridges used daily by the people of the vi llages a round Cherra punjee may be well over 500 yea rs old. Page 8: But these a re not the only bri dges built from growing plants. Japan too, has its own form of l i ving bridges. These are The Vine Bridges of Lya Valley - Japan ....... Page 9: One of Ja pan 's three "hidden" va lleys, West Iya is home to the kind of misty gorges, cl ear ri vers, and thatched roofs one i magines i n the Japan of centuries a go. To get a cross the Iya River that runs through the rough va lley terrain, bandits, warriors and refugees created a very s pecial - i f slightly unsteady - bri dge made of vi nes. Page 10: Thi s is a picture from the 1880s of one of the original vi ne bridges. Page 11: Fi rs t, two Wisteria vi nes -- one of the strongest vi nes known -- were grown to extra ordinary l engths from either side of the ri ver. Once the vi nes had reached a s ufficient l ength they were woven together with planking to create a pliable, durable a nd, most importantly, l ivi ng piece of botanical engineering. Page 12: The bri dges had no sides, a nd a Japanese historical source relates that the original vi ne bri dges were s o unstable, those attempting to cross them for the first time would often freeze i n place, unable to go any fa rther. Three of those vi ne bridges remain i n Iya Valley . While s ome (though apparently not a l l) of the bridges have been reinforced with wire and side ra ils, they a re still harrowing to cros s . More than 140 feet l ong, with planks s et six to eight inches a part and a drop of four-a nd-a-half stories down to the water, they a re not for a crophobes. . Some people believe the existing vi ne bridges were first grown i n the 12th century, whi ch would make them some of the oldest known examples of l iving architecture i n the worl d. Page 13: Page 14: Page 15: