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Osaka · Mixed

From Shitennoji to Shinsekai: Ancient Temples and Old-School Osaka

In barely two kilometers, southern Osaka travels from the 6th century to the neon of the 1950s. You start at Shitennoji, founded in 593 according to the chronicles, pass through the gate of the Buddhist Paradise, visit a temple that makes Buddhas from its followers' ashes and climb the hill from which the castle was attacked in 1615. You finish in Shinsekai, at the foot of Tsutenkaku, with a kushikatsu skewer in hand.

  • 6 stops
  • 1.8 km
  • 1 h 40 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
Tsūtenkaku Tower seen from a Shinsekai street

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 Shitennoji TempleOne of Japan's oldest Buddhist temples, founded in 593 according to the chronicles and rebuilt time and again.
  2. 2 Stone Torii and the Gate of ParadiseA torii from 1294 which, according to its inscription, marks the eastern gate of Buddha's Paradise.
  3. 3 Isshinji TempleThe temple that, since 1887, has made Buddha statues from the ashes of hundreds of thousands of people.
  4. 4 Chausuyama HillA small mound that served as Ieyasu's headquarters in 1614 and Sanada Yukimura's in 1615.
  5. 5 Tsutenkaku TowerThe tower that "reaches to heaven", symbol of the Shinsekai district, rebuilt in 1956.
  6. 6 Jan Jan Yokocho AlleyA covered alley from 1921 named after the shamisen, with games of shogi and the smell of kushikatsu.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

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  2. Walk to the spot

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What you’ll discover

From Shitennoji to Shinsekai: Ancient Temples and Old-School Osaka

The temple of 593

Shitennoji, founded by Prince Shōtoku according to the Nihon Shoki, and its stone torii of 1294, the eastern gate of Paradise.

A battle hill

Chausuyama, headquarters of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1614 and of Sanada Yukimura in 1615.

Shinsekai

Tsutenkaku tower, the grinning Billiken and Jan Jan Yokocho alley, with its kushikatsu and games of shogi.

Keep exploring

More routes in Osaka

Back to Osaka
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