This was the first bridge to stretch across the Nagahorikawa River, a canal roughly 2,500m long and 30–40m deep which was excavated in 1625 to connect the Higashi-Yokobori and Kizugawa Rivers. Along with the Shinsaibashi and Shinanobashi Bridges, it played an important role in Osaka as one of the bridges managed directly by the Tokugawa Shogunate. However, the Meiji era (1868–1912) saw many of these rivers filled in: Osaka’s many bridges, once so numerous they were described as "the 808 bridges of Naniwa", gradually vanished from the city’s landscape. Nagahoribashi Bridge was one of these. Today, Nagahoribashi Bridge is remembered not only by this monument, but also as the name of a subway station.