Namba Shrine

Namba Shrine is an old shrine said to have been founded to Emperor Nintoku by his son Emperor Hanzei, when Hanzei opened the Shibagaki no Miya palace in what is now Matsubara in Osaka Prefecture. It later moved to Uehonmachi in Tennoji Ward, and after Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Osaka Castle it moved to its present site in the Tensho era, in 1583. From the place name it was called Kami-Namba Shrine, and in Meiji 8 (1875) it took its present name. In the Edo period, as Inari worship spread, the subsidiary Inari shrine in its precincts, known as the Inari of Bakuromachi, became better known than the main shrine itself. Uemura Bunrakuken opened a puppet theatre in the precincts in 1811 (Bunka 8), and after Bunrakuken moved to the newly developed Kujo district in the early Meiji era, the Hikorokuza opened on the spot he left. The summer festival held on 20 and 21 July each year is called the Himuro Festival, and crushed ice is handed out to worshippers; eating it is said to keep off summer fatigue.

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