Hirano

Hirano, located in the southeast of Osaka, is known as the oldest established town area within Osaka City. It developed as a key transportation hub from the Heian period, and during the Sengoku period it became a settlement known as ‘Hirano-go,’ a moat-surrounded autonomous city. It is said that double moats and embankments encircled the settlement to prevent enemy intrusion, and it prospered as an autonomous city comparable to Sakai. There were also 13 gated entrances around the settlement, with highways leading to various regions, further reinforcing its role as a transportation crossroads. During the Summer Campaign of Osaka, it was designated as Tokugawa Ieyasu’s headquarters, demonstrating its strong defensive capability. In the Edo period, it flourished as a collection point for cotton from Kawachi Province; as a result, cotton is now designated as the flower of Hirano Ward. After the Meiji-era municipal system reforms, Hirano-go became Hirano-go Town and continued as a regional center, but industrialization and urbanization accelerated in the Taisho period, and on April 1, 1925, Hirano-go Town was incorporated into Osaka City.