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A depiction of the Sanzu River in Tosa Mitsunobu's Jūō-zu (十王図). The good can cross the river by a bridge while the evil are cast into the dragon-infested rapids.
The Sanzu-no-Kawa (三途の川, "Sanzu River", literally the "Three-World River" in reference to Buddhist ideas about realms of existence) is a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist tradition similar to the Chinese concept of Huang Quan (Yellow Springs), Indian concept of the Vaitarani and Greek concept of the Styx.[1]
Before reaching the afterlife, the souls of the deceased must cross the river by one of three crossing points: a bridge, a ford, or a stretch of deep, snake-infested waters.[2] The weight of one's offenses while alive determines which path an individual must take. It is believed that a toll of six mon must be paid before a soul can cross the river, a belief reflected in Japanese funerals when the necessary fee is placed in the casket with the dead.[3]
The Sanzu River is popularly believed to be in Mount Osore, a suitably desolate and remote part of Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan.
Similarly to the Sanzu-no-Kawa, there is also the Sai no Kawara (賽の河原, "River-plain of the Dead"), a boundary by which the souls of children who died too early cross over to the realm of the Dead, with the help of Jizō, a Kami/Bodhisattva who helps the souls of children who died too early to avoid the attentions of the Oni and of Shozuka-no-Baba and Datsueba.
Naihe Bridge - the entrance and exit to the underworld in Taoism and Chinese folk beliefs; the ghosts must pass over this bridge before they can be reincarnated.
