大坂道頓堀

About this photo

This photo shows people passing beneath banners (nobori) in Dotonbori, Osaka. It appears in Nihon Fukei Fuzoku Shashincho (Photo Album of Japanese Scenery and Customs), published in 1910. The Japanese title uses an old spelling of Osaka, and the English caption calls it a popular entertainment district in Osaka.

Dotonbori is a canal begun in 1612. After Nariyasu Doton, who started the work, died in the Siege of Osaka, Yasui Doboku and others took it over and finished it in 1615. Matsudaira Tadaakira, lord of Osaka Castle, is said to have named it Dotonbori to honor Doton's work. In 1653 five theater licenses were granted there, and Dotonbori became a theater district. Later the Naniwa-za, Naka-za, Kado-za, Asahi-za and Benten-za came to be called the Five Theaters of Dotonbori.

In the Edo period, playhouses lined the south side of the canal street and theater teahouses the north, and even today the south side is said to have more entertainment venues and the north more places to eat. The five theaters disappeared one after another from the Showa era into the Heisei era, and the Osaka Shochikuza, opened in 1923 (Taisho 12), also closed its doors after its May 2026 (Reiwa 8) performances.

Glossary