Hokonagashi Bridge

Hokonagashi Bridge crosses the Dojima River and links the north bank of Nakanoshima, near Osaka City Central Public Hall and the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, with Nishitenma, near the Osaka High Court. On the morning of 24 July each year the hokonagashi rite of the Tenjin Matsuri, in which a sacred halberd is floated down the river to decide the otabisho, the place the spirit of the deity will go to that year, is held at the foot of the bridge, and that is said to be where the name comes from. The first bridge here is said to have been built in Taisho 7 (1918), but the present one was completed in Showa 4 (1929). The classical Japanese style of the railings, the lamps and the main posts is thought to have been chosen in view of the hokonagashi rite held here. The railings and lamps were later lost to wartime requisitioning of metal, but in Showa 55 (1980) railings and lamps in a classical design suited to the Nakanoshima district, and a brick paved footway, were installed, and they remain today. For the 40 minutes or so of the hokonagashi rite on 24 July, this normally quiet bridge is filled with people watching from it.

Translated from the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City tourist listings (観光施設一覧, CC BY 4.0).