Ikedaya Incident Sword-scarred Giboshi

The Sanjō Ōhashi bridge features onion-shaped railing posts known as giboshi, and the second post from the west on the south side carries a distinct, jagged scar. Local lore identifies this mark as a sword strike from the Ikedaya Incident of July eight, eighteen sixty-four. On that night, the Shinsengumi—a special police force loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate—raided the nearby Ikedaya Inn to confront anti-shogunate rebels. The fighting between the Shinsengumi and the samurai loyalists was intense and spilled out from the inn into the surrounding streets.