hashibasami-ishi　橋挟石

KEY WORD :　architecture / gardens

Lit. bridge-anchoring stones. The stones placed at the four corners of a stone bridge ishibashi 石橋. Also called the hashizoe-ishi 橋添石, hashibiki-ishi 橋引石, hashiuke-ishi 橋受石, and tamoto-ishi 袂石, these four stones add visual bulk and balance to a bridge and help support the bank on which the bridge rests. To avoid symmetry, small stones are balanced with large, low with high. In the Muromachi period, one or two low stones were employed, while in the Momoyama period three higher stones were used. By the early Edo period variation in stones became common. The combination of stone bridge and anchoring stones is called hashi-iwagumi 橋石組.

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