Scrapbook Layout: Iya Kazurabashi
This is another layout that I completed this past weekend while scrapbooking some of my Japan photos on National Scrapbooking Day. 
Iya (祖谷) Valley is a remote, magical place in Shikoku, one of the four major islands of Japan. I particularly love the old vine bridges there and made this layout about them.
I really liked these two photos so I enlarged them to 8"x10" and placed one on each side of the layout matted with a thin white mat. I kept a green and brown color scheme to match my photos using a tan patterned paper for the background. For my journaling block I layered vellum over my photos and then added small scraps of brown and green paper for accents and to back my title. I hid the adhesive for the vellum underneath the other papers so it wouldn't show through.
The journaling reads, "My favorite part about visiting Iya Valley was seeing all of the beautiful vine bridges known as kazurabashi. Iya Valley, with its steep mountainsides, was notoriously difficult to traverse. Dating to about a thousand years ago locals developed a method for building bridges across the valley. Wisteria vines were grown on either side of the river until they could span the valley. The vines were then woven with planking to form bridges. Nowadays three bridges remain in Iya Valley and are reinforced with metal cables. Walking across the bridges is not only lovely but has a wonderful sense of history as well. What an amazing experience! 8/10"
If you are interested, check out some of my other layouts: Scrapbooking
Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 7:08AM | Posted by Lisa | 4 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (4)
Nice simple clean layout and the photos tell the story in such detail. I like the 8X10 size. I am trying to use less photos on a 2 page spread, be more selective in what I want my photos to say and I have tried to enlarge a few ..... 5X7 has been a big leap, moving out of my comfort scrap. Moving to 8X10 may not be so far to leap when I have your excellent examples :-)
Yea another layout! Cool bridges, reminds me of Indiana Jones!
Gorgeous layout! Those bridges are beautiful.
Mary-Lou- Thank you! You should definitely try using an 8"x10". I love the impact that they make.
Hilary- Thank you! It definitely does look like the bridge could belong in Indiana Jones.
Sandy- Thank you so much! I think the vine bridges are really beautiful, too. They just seem like a natural extension of the forest.