Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1914 — BARRED TO BRIDES [ARTICLE]

BARRED TO BRIDES

Tokyo Bridge Shunned 150 Years By Newly Married Women. Old Tradition Was the Cause —Ceremony Recently Performed by Shinto Priests Will Break Spell of Superstition. Tokyo, Japan.—ln the outskirts of Tokyo is a bridge known as Yodobashi, which connects the two suburbs of Nakano and Yodobashi. Its former name was Sugata-mizu-bashi, or shadowless bridge; and this name was derived from an old tradition and superstition. The story, as told in one of the Tokyo papers, runs as follows: In the days of the seventh shogun of the Tokugawas there lived a farmer named Kuro Suzki, in Jyuniso, near Shinjuku. By fervent and consistent prayer to Kannon at her temple in Asakusa the farmer became very rich. He amassed a fortune and would gloat over hie great hoard Qf treasures. But he was afraid to let anybody look at his treasures or know where he kept them. To relieve himself of the wearing burden of taking care of his precious possessions, he took them to a wood near Nakano and buried them there. It chanced, however, that one of the employes got wind of this and found the hiding place in the wood. One day the rich farmer took his man along with him on the way to the secret place and killed him on the bridge. The revengeful spirit of the murdered man must have cursed the family of his brutal employer. For his beautiful daughter was always unfortunate in marriage. Her father adopted many good young men into his family and married them to his daughter. All the bridesgrooms either died soon or had to be for various reasons. The beautiful woman, under the curse, became ill from bitterness and grief. One day she left her father and the cursed house and walked on to find death.' She was led to the bridge by the avenging spirit and when she went a little way on the bridge her form disappeared like a mysterious vapor. This quaint incident gave the bridge the name “the shadowless bridge.” It was then told that the spirit of the beautiful woman guarded the bridge and cursed every girl

on her way to the bridal ceremony. Some years later, when Yoshimune Tokugaws, the eighth shogun, passed by the place, he ordered the unhappy name of the .bridge to be changed to “Yodobashi.” It is now called by the new name since then, but the superstatious tradition has remained fresh in the memory of all. Every bride has shunned the cursed bridge on the way to the bridal ceremony, if she had to go round a long way to cross another bridge over the river. Not a bride crossed it for more than 150 years and it was thought to be * under the curse of the farmer’s beau, tiful daughter. But recently, when the son of a wealthy man of Nakano waa to be married, the father decided to break the spell and end the superstition, which was causing so much inconvenience to the marriageable people of the vicinity. Therefore, he arranged for a special shinto service for the purpose of exorcizing the evil spirit of the bridge; and he is said to have expended 5,000 yen ($2,500) for that laudable purpose. About 750 persons were invited to witness the ceremony. It was con*ducted by the chief priest of the'Hlyrf shrine in Tokyo, and he was assisted by sixteen other shinto priests. A place of worship was constructed near the bridge and facing the river. There those priests performed the ceremony of cleansing the bridge of evil spirits, while musicians played sacred music. Then the priests walked first over the bridge and pronounced It purified. After the ceremony, N. Sekl, vice-president of the house of representatives, made a speech on the subject of superstition, and then Mr. Asada entertained the guests with sumptuous (refreshments in a large tent especially erected for the occasion. That evening Mr. Asada's bride passed over the bridge, and it is to be hoped, effectually broke the spell of the old superstition. Thus Yodobashi is no longer a brideless bridge.