Goryo Shrine

Goryo Shrine drew the faith of Semba, Nakanoshima, Kyomachibori, Utsubo and the rest of the old Tsumura-go district of Settsu Province as their ubusunagami, the deity of the land on which they were born, and has long been called Goryo-san. The site was originally a round inlet thick with reeds, called Tsubura-e, and the shrine began as the Tsubura shrine built there to the tutelary deity; the place name Tsumura is said to be a corruption of Tsubura-e. In Bunroku 3 (1594) Hideyoshi merged the small shrines Inui Hachimangu and Genshoreisha into it, and from then on it took the name Goryo Shrine. Standing in the commercial and financial heart of the city, it was often visited by the merchants of Semba and by students of the Tekijuku and Kaitokudo academies. From the Meiji era until Taisho 15 (1926), the Goryo Bunrakuza, the predecessor of today's National Bunraku Theatre, gave puppet theatre performances in the precincts, which were crowded and lively with sideshow booths and night stalls.

Translated from the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City tourist listings (観光施設一覧, CC BY 4.0).