Origin of the Name of Yatsuhashi

There is a story about the place name of Yatsuhashi. Once upon a time, there lived a happy doctor named Genki Haneda with his wife, who was the daughter of the manor administrator (officer of the manor), and two sons.

However, the father, Genki, died young, and the family gradually began to suffer in poverty. The mother went to the mountain to pick up firewood or went to the creek (the present Aizuma River emptied into the ocean, and there was a creek in those days) to pick seaweed. They managed to live their life by looking forward to the growth of children despite their hardships.

The elder brother turned eight, and the younger brother turned five. One day, the mother said to the boys, “Be good boys, and stay at home until I come back,” and left for the creek to pick seaweed. The two children quietly stayed at home at first but started to miss their mother and went down to the shore.

When they saw their mother working hard, picking seaweed across the water, they tried to approach her, calling, “Mother, mother,” but they accidentally fell in the water. It happened so suddenly in the blink of an eye. The mother was distraught to see her two sons drowning and drifting away in front of her eyes. She tried to save them but to no avail and lost eventually sight of the two boys.

The grief of the mother was beyond imagination. She went to Muryojuji Temple, shaved her head, and became a nun known as Shikoni. She served Buddha every morning and evening, and prayed for her sons’ souls to rest in peace. She thought, “If there had been a bridge over this river, my children would not have drowned. In addition, the villagers would be able to cross the river safely.” She wholeheartedly prayed to the principal image of Goddess Kannon, making an invocation to have a bridge over the river someday.

Then, one evening, there was a revelation in a dream, saying, “You will find many logs swept ashore if you go to the creek. Use those logs to make a bridge.” Shikoni was delighted and went to the creek, finding many logs. She tried to make a bridge with the logs, but the water current was as complex as a spider’s legs, so it was difficult to make one straight bridge. However, she struggled to place logs alternately and somehow managed to build eight bridges that reached over to the other side.

Since then, the villagers have been able to easily cross the water, and they call this area Yatsuhashi (eight bridges), named after the number of bridges. It was during the age of Emperor Nimmyo in May of the 9th year of Showa (842). It is believed that Shikoni deepened her faith, believing that the blooming Japanese irises along this river were memorial flowers for her lost children.

Currently, a memorial tower for these two children is situated on the grounds of Muryojuji Temple, while a memorial tower for Shikoni stands quietly on the grounds of Zaigenji Temple.

The end.