The Edo Period (1601 ~ 1867) Osaka was restored from the ashes of war into an economic hub and became known as the “Kitchen of Japan” during the Edo era.
Osaka became an important base for transportation where goods from all over Japan were gathered and shipped. Osaka flourished as the largest economic city in Japan connected with international trading. The price in the Dojima Rice Market was recognized as the standard price for the nation.
Popular arts were also blooming in addition to trading with cultural attractions such as the works of Saikaku Ihara, Akinari Ueda, and the Joruri Puppet shows accompanied by the narrative of Gidayu Takemoto, which was a big hit in combination with the script created by Monzaemon Chikamatsu.
Education also had great successes with the establishment of the Kaitokudo and Tekijuku schools. Nakamoto Tominaga, who studied at Kaitokudo, developed a unique school of philosophy concerning the principles of the world. He discovered many peculiar cultural patterns and had a profound effect on the world of thought at that time. Many citizen scholars, such as Banto Yamagata, who was known as a staunch rationalist, appeared one after the other on the social scene during this period.The Tekijuku, established by Koan Ogata, was a school for studying Western sciences and medicine. Its students included Keisuke Ootori and Yukichi Fukuzawa, active participants in the last days of the Tokugawa regime and the reform of the government. The Tekijuku was located near Doshomachi, the center of medical commerce in Japan, and many talented minds gathered in Osaka from all parts of the country to study sciences freely.
Many people gathered in Osaka, Japan’s kitchen, where merchandise were traded and literary arts, education, and science flourished. The arts and literature characteristic of the Edo period are alive and well today in Osaka.
Shinsekai Luna Park
Amusement park created on the site of the 5thNational Industrial Promotion Exposition in 1903.
From the Meiji to the Taisho Periods (1868 ~ 1926) After the Meiji Restoration, residencies for foreigners were established in Kawaguchi, an area that became the gateway of civilization. The economic policies of the new government, however, made finances and the currency stagnate resulting in the loss of the prosperity enjoyed until that time.
This caused Osaka to go through a transformation from a trade and financial economic base to rapid development as a mainly industrial region. At the end of the 19th century, so much smoke spewed from factory smokestacks into the sky that Osaka was then called the “smoky city”. The 20th century ushered in the era when Osaka would overwhelm the world market in the spinning industry. Osaka was nicknamed the “Manchester of the Orient”.
Osaka City Hall
From the Showa to the Heisei Periods (1927 ~ )
Osaka was restored as a modern commercial and industrial city, but the strict restrictions limiting consumption during World War II had greatly reduced the range of economic activity in the city. Continuous air raids by American bombers leveled some 27% of Osaka and many facilities were seriously damaged.
Restoring the city was a very difficult task indeed, but thanks to the generous efforts of our citizens and the vigorous promotion of city planning, life in Osaka became stable and economic activities exceeded the prewar level. With society and the economy having been changed profoundly after the war, Osaka recreated itself in the new age as the center of Western Japan.
Osaka has come to an age when it must again take its next leap forward as “a city of people contributing to the world” in accordance with the development of modernization and internationalization that has progressed for over a century.