Miotsukushi Sumiyoshi Shrine

Miotsukushi Sumiyoshi Shrine is said to have begun in 804, when a small shrine was built to pray for the safety of the voyage of the envoys to Tang China and a miotsukushi, a marker showing the channel, was set up to welcome the party home. The hall and grounds were laid out later, for a guardian deity of the land and a god of sea traffic. The miotsukushi is the design of the emblem of the City of Osaka.

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