Daikokucho

Daikokucho is an area around Daikokucho Station in Shikitsuhigashi 3-chome, Naniwa Ward, Osaka City. It is home to attractions such as the Osaka Kizu Wholesale Market, Imamiya Ebisu Shrine, Okuninushi Shrine, and HACOSTADIUM Osaka—one of Japan’s largest cosplay photo studios. Long ago, much of what is now Naniwa Ward was sea, and in the Kamakura period many residents lived by fishing. Ebisu—affectionately called “Ebessan”—is said to have drifted in from the sea, and Imamiya Shrine, which enshrines Ebisu-no-Mikoto, attracted the faith of people engaged in fishing. In the Sengoku period, the area was used as a military base by the Hosokawa and Miyoshi clans, and during the Ishiyama War between the Jodo Shinshu Honganji sect and Oda Nobunaga, Oda forces set up camp here. In the Edo period, the city canal known as Namba Shinkawa ran through Osaka; on its eastern side was Namba Shinchi, a lively entertainment district with teahouses. In 1943, Naniwa Ward (including Daikokucho) was reorganized into its current boundaries, but most of the ward was destroyed in the air raids of March 1945. Postwar land readjustment projects began soon after and were completed in 1991. Today, the area has seen rapid construction of high-rise office buildings and tower condominiums, and the population has been trending upward.