"Hashihime is a lady, oni or a goddess who appears in legends about bridges. She is also called Uji no Hashihime.

She appears in many legends and has various aspects, but the two major ones are the 'Jealous Oni' encountered and killed by Minamoto no Tsuna at Ichijo Modori-bashi Bridge, and the 'Guardian kami of the bridge' enshrined in Hashihime-jinja Shrine near Uji-bashi Bridge.

The story can be summarized as follows:

During the reign of Emperor Saga (809-825), a daughter of a court noble who had become filled with envy shut herself away in Kibune-jinja Shrine, praying:

"O Great Myojin Kami of Kibune, please change me into a Kijin (oni goddess) while I am still alive." "I want to possess and kill a woman I envy." The Myojin God felt sorry and told her, "If you really want to become an oni, change your appearance and soak in the Uji-gawa River for 21 days."

After the woman returned to Heiankyo (the former name of Kyoto), she made five horns by separating her hair into five parts, she painted herself red by putting cinnabar on her face and red lead paint on her body, put a tetsuwa (a three-legged iron stand) upside down on her head, put lit torches on the three legs and put a torch burning at both ends into her mouth, making five fires in total. Late that night, she ran south on Yamato-oji Street, and those who saw her fell and died of shock at seeing such an oni-like figure. Then she soaked in the Uji-gawa river for 21 days and, as Kibune Daimyojin had said, she became an oni while she was still alive.
This is 'Uji no Hashihime.'

She killed the woman she envied, then the woman's relatives, the relatives of the woman's man, and finally just anybody."