Hekinan · JP

Old Minato Bridge Pillars

At the south end of the current Minato Bridge in Hekinan's old Ohama waterfront district, four sturdy stone pillars stand in a quiet row beside the road. They are the parent pillars — oyabashira — of an earlier bridge that once connected the port town's merchants and fishermen to the opposite bank. A weathered photograph mounted nearby shows the riverside scene as it looked in 1926, anchoring these remnants firmly in the Taisho era. The pillars are a small but evocative stop on a walking tour of Hekinan's historic Ohama quarter, just steps from the striking white-walled Old Ohama Police Station with its octagonal tower. Together, they tell the story of a port community that preserved its past while the town grew around it.