Oe Bridge

Oe Bridge crosses the Dojima River, which flows past the north side of Osaka City Hall. It was originally one of the five Dojima River bridges, Oebashi, Watanabebashi, Taminobashi, Horiebashi and Funatsubashi, newly built in the Genroku era (1688 to 1703) as the Dojima urban area was developed. The name is said to come from a place name that appears in the poems of Man'yoshu poets. In Meiji 43 (1910) it was rebuilt as an iron bridge to coincide with the opening of the city tram. The present bridge was renovated under the First Urban Planning Project together with Yodoyabashi to the south, and unusually for a bridge renovation of the Taisho era a design competition was held, with entries from all over the country. Otani Tatsuo was chosen to take charge of the design. The bridge is 81.5 m long and 37.0 m wide, a four span arch bridge of steel reinforced concrete with a solid web deck carrying the road on top, and it had handrails. Work began in Showa 5 (1930) and it was completed in Showa 10 (1935). It has been renovated twice since, but is said to keep almost the form it had at completion. The nameplate on the bridge is in the hand of Mayor Seki Hajime.

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