Ōmiya Bridge

Omiya Bridge crosses the Omiya River on the approach to Nishi Hongu at Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu, and the current granite structure dates from 1669. It was modeled closely on a wooden predecessor, even replicating the mortise-and-tenon joinery in the columns despite those joints no longer being structurally necessary. According to the shrine's founding legend, a warrior built the original shrine here because the sound of the river's ripples carried passages from the Nirvana Sutra. A canal still encircles the shrine today to preserve that ambient water sound. The bridge is one of three crossing the river nearby, all designated Important Cultural Properties, and the largest and most elaborate of the three.