No.052

Hashihime

THE LADY OF THE BRIDGE

For reference: old artToriyama Sekien（1779）
"Hashihime" from Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki
Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)

Japanese name

橋姫（HASHIHIME）

Type

Bridge goddess / demon woman

Found in

The foot of bridges (Uji Bridge)

Where the legend lives

Kyoto — Uji Bridge over the Uji River. Hashihime Shrine, dedicated to her, stands nearby

◆ The legend

Hashihime is a goddess who protects bridges. To people of old, a bridge was a boundary, the place where this side met the other. It is said that a goddess was enshrined at the foot of a bridge to keep bad things from crossing over. The most famous of all is the Hashihime of Uji Bridge, which spans the Uji River in Kyoto. She appears again and again in classical poetry, pictured as a woman waiting alone for the one she loves. At the same time, she is also said to be a deeply jealous goddess.

The "Sword Chapter" (Tsurugi no maki) of The Tale of the Heike tells a different story. A woman tormented by jealousy prayed to the god of Kifune Shrine to turn her into a demon while she still lived. Following the god's message, she changed herself into a fearsome figure and stayed in the waters of the Uji River until she became a demon, and that demon, the story says, was the Hashihime of Uji. A goddess guarding the bridge, and a demon woman born of jealousy: Hashihime carries both faces.

◆ Stories about this yokai

November 3, 2026Hashihime of Uji: The Goddess Who Waits, and the Woman Who Became a DemonIn classical poetry, the Hashihime of Uji Bridge is a woman waiting for her lover. In The Tale of the Heike, she is a woman who became a demon out of jealousy. A gentle look at the two faces behind one name, from poetry to the Noh play "Kanawa.