Hiyoshi Taisha Hiyoshi Sanbashi Bridges

Three Stone Bridges Over the Ōmiya River

The Hiyoshi Taisha Hiyoshi Sanbashi Bridges, in Sakamoto-honmachi, Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, are three stone beam bridges crossing the Ōmiya River inside the Hiyoshi Taisha precinct, designated an Important Cultural Property as a group in 1917. Running from upstream down, they are Ōmiyabashi, Hashiribashi and Ninomiyabashi, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs assigns all three to the Momoyama period, 1573 to 1614.

One tradition attaches to all three: that Toyotomi Hideyoshi presented them as timber bridges in the late sixteenth century, and that they were later rebuilt in stone. Ōtsu city dates that rebuilding to 1699 and records that Ōmiyabashi copied the form of the wooden bridge directly into stone. The two authorities give different ranges for the date of construction, and both are set out here.

Hiyoshi Taisha notes that the precinct cannot be entered without crossing one of the stone bridges over the Ōmiya River. The bridges are not decoration; they mark the line between inside and outside. Ōmiya is an older name for the western sanctuary, and the river carrying that name has itself long been treated as sacred.

Each of the Three

Ōmiyabashi carries the approach to the western sanctuary across the water. It is a stone beam bridge on four piers with a balustrade, 5 metres wide and 13.9 metres long. Ōtsu city calls it the most elaborately worked of the three. Handrails cut from solid stone rise on both sides, and the way a timber bridge's component parts have been translated into stone is legible along its whole length.

Hashiribashi rests on two piers and has no balustrade. At 4.6 metres wide and 13.8 metres long it is the smallest of the three, described by Ōtsu city as plainly built. The name comes from a purifying spring called Hashirii beside it, and the bridge is associated with rites of purification. Having no ornament, it shows the bare skeleton of a stone beam bridge: piers, beams, deck.

Ninomiyabashi crosses where the path to the eastern sanctuary meets the river; Ninomiya is an older name for that sanctuary. It has four piers and a balustrade and is 5 metres wide and 13.9 metres long, almost the same size as Ōmiyabashi, though Ōtsu city describes its construction as simpler. The same city description also speaks of twelve piers standing in the river, where the Agency records four, so the two are counting differently. Reading each pier as a group of three posts reconciles the figures, but the point needs checking.

Stone Doing the Work of Timber

The thing to watch at the Hiyoshi Taisha Hiyoshi Sanbashi Bridges is how the stone has been cut. A beam bridge sets girders across piers and lays a deck on top; built in wood, every joint between those members is visible. These three reproduce that arrangement in stone. The piers stand like posts, the girders span like beams, the deck reads as planking.

The balustrade of Ōmiyabashi makes the point clearest. A wooden balustrade needs newel posts, a rail threaded through them and a capping member above. Doing the same in stone means quarrying each element separately and stacking them. The handrails hollowed out of stone that Ōtsu city describes are exactly this operation.

Crossing all three in turn shows the same technique being simplified in proportion to scale and ornament. Ōmiyabashi, then Ninomiyabashi, then Hashiribashi: the labour drops at each step. The hierarchy of the bridges records the hierarchy of the paths they carry.

Visiting

These are outdoor structures on the approach paths, so they can be seen at any time the precinct is open. Entry requires the shrine contribution: 500 yen for adults, 300 yen for junior and senior high school students, free for younger children, and 450 yen each for groups of thirty or more. You walk across them, and the arrangement of piers and girders can be read from the bank without climbing down to the water. Photography is unrestricted.

General hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the two main compounds opening at 6:00 a.m. from April to September and 7:00 a.m. from October to March. Wet stone is slippery, so take care after rain.

The three stand some distance apart, so seeing them all means walking the grounds. A full circuit takes about forty minutes, or up to ninety in the autumn colour season, when the banks of the Ōmiya River draw crowds.

Sakamoto-Hieizanguchi Station on the Keihan Ishiyama Sakamoto Line is about ten minutes on foot, Hieizan-Sakamoto Station on the JR Kosei Line about twenty. Free parking for around fifty cars is available, charged during November. Coaches cannot enter the precinct.