To raise funds to cover the periodic reconstruction, etc. of the bridge, the following tax systems were in place: - "Hashimoyai" (1675 to 1676) (in 1676, the expenditures payable for the preceding year as well were collected in a lump sum)

Funds necessary to rebuild and renovate the bridge would be raised from people of all classes in the domain (from samurai downward to farmers), with samurai donating one service unit per fief of approximately 1800 liters of rice and per resident.

- "Hashidashimai" (1678 to 1871)

An evolution of Hashimoyai, this tax system routinely collects money each year as an earmarked tax. Clansmen and people connected with temples and shrines were charged with approximately 1.4 liters of rice per fief of around approximately 1800 liters, plus another approximately 1.4 liters per residence. People living in rural districts were charged with approximately 1.4 liters of rice per household each year. Townspeople were charged with approximately 0.9 liters or approximately 0.67 liters of rice per frontage (1.8 m) each year.

Records say that the Iwakuni Domain, having a fief of approximately 1.08 million liters in 1703, had yearly collected a little more than approximately 17.5 thousand liters around 1847, which is worth about ¥48.5 million in present-day monetary terms.

The full-scale reconstruction of the bridge carried out between 1989 up to present has cost ¥2.6 billion.

Some of the expertise relevant to the reconstruction,

Second, Third and Fourth Bridge Span Rebuilding Drawing in 1699

Source) Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture (Reference)

Kintaikyo Bridge, Iwakuni City Official Website http://kintaikyo.iwakuni-city.net/

etc. of the bridge that has been handed down since its initial construction depends on carpenters' personal experiences. The art of "viewing timbers," for example, has trickled down from seniors on site through generations because different timbers of the same kind can have different properties. The inheritance of carpentry lies behind the periodic reconstruction of the bridge to date.

Periodic reconstruction, etc. of the bridge is further on tap.

## Section 2 Forming a New Phase of Relationships between the Central and Local Governments and Private Sector

## New Phase of Relationships between the Central and Local Governments

Measures, etc. are being promoted on a nationwide scale or from nationwide perspectives in partnership with prefectures and municipalities to address the key tasks that are directly linked to people's living, such as formation of an animated economic society and communities and assurance of safety and security.

In the circumstances, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is tackling with the tasks of decentralization, such as reviewing the obligations and limitations to impose, transferring authority to local governments and reorganizing the programs to subsidize regional efforts.

In FY2012, the Act for the Development of Legislations to Promote Reforms for Augmenting Local Independence and Self-Sustenance (primary and secondary bill package) was enacted in accordance with recommendations by the Council for Decentralization Reform to permit the delegation of the public housing occupancy income and development standards and prefectural and municipal road structure standards to local ordinances and to broaden the scope of urban planning to