saikamachi

Updated: August 11, 2026

This victim was one Gensuke, who had lived in the street Saikamachi; for it had been determined that the first man who should cross the bridge wearing hakama without a machi should be put under the bridge; and Gensuke sought to pass over not having a machi in his hakama, so they sacrificed him Wherefore the midmost pillar of the bridge was for three hundred years called by his name Gensuke-bashira.

Lafcadio Hearn - Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan : First Series