旧黒田藩蔵屋敷長屋門

In the Edo period Osaka was called the kitchen of the realm and was the centre of the country's commerce, distribution and finance. Goods from every province were gathered in Osaka, sold there and carried out again to the provinces, or exported through Nagasaki. The domains kept kurayashiki, warehouse compounds that served as their Osaka residences and trading houses, along the Dojima, Tosabori and Edobori rivers, in what is now the Nakanoshima area. Their number began to rise in the Genroku years (1688-1705) and reached 124 in the Tenpo years (1830-1844); at the abolition of the domains in Meiji 5 there are said to have been 135. The front gate of the old Kuroda domain, that is Fukuoka domain, kurayashiki is one of the few structures left from a mid-Edo warehouse compound, and stood near the present Nakanoshima Mitsui Building. When that building went up in Showa 8 (1933) the Mitsui company gave the gate to the city of Osaka, and it is now kept in Tennoji Park on the south side of the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts. It is a tangible cultural property of Osaka prefecture.

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