The Maker Speaks
Sumioshi-taisha
Enshrines the Deities Presiding Navigation
Enshrines the Deities Presiding Navigation
Today I suppose the Osaka people seldom know about the Three Deities of Sumiyoshi-taisha. I also have not been to the shrine in Osaka, although I was born and have grown up in Osaka. I am not going to justify me, but I suppose there are many Osaka people who have not been to the shrine like me. And it means the 20th century worked as a switch on the Osaka history.
What's Sumiyoshi-taisha? you may ask. It is one of the shrines standing in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka. No one knows when it was established. And there are several theories about the beginning. What deity has been enshrined there? They enshrine three deities that preside navigation in the shrine. And it is said countless people have prayed to the shrine hoping for safety on water transport. As you know, they had mainly used waterways like rivers and brooks for long range transport until cars and airplanes widely spread in the middle of the 20th century. It means water transport had supported people's lives for a long time. And business was almost ruled by those who ruled waterways at the time. Osaka had prospered for their rich rivers, as it was called "City of Water."
The Sumioshi-taisha Ground
The Sumioshi-taisha Main Hall
Osaka did good as a fruit of their waterways. And it was not unnatural for them to enshrine the deities presiding navigation. It was necessary. However, today water transport is not major as it used to be. Needless to mention, the reason is that land transport became major instead in the 20th century. As you know, it was made by motorization growth. That's just a result of going with the current. The trend of the times. There is nothing unnatural.
What did it make? That made water transport distant from Osaka people. And I suppose they also became distant from the Sumiyoshi-taisha gradually. I think so. The further water transport goes, the more infrequent praying to the deities that preside navigation is. The 20th century worked as a switch on the Osaka history, said I above. How about the 21th century? We have to think it again as long as living in Osaka. Living in Osaka is taking over Osaka history, I guess.
What's Sumiyoshi-taisha? you may ask. It is one of the shrines standing in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka. No one knows when it was established. And there are several theories about the beginning. What deity has been enshrined there? They enshrine three deities that preside navigation in the shrine. And it is said countless people have prayed to the shrine hoping for safety on water transport. As you know, they had mainly used waterways like rivers and brooks for long range transport until cars and airplanes widely spread in the middle of the 20th century. It means water transport had supported people's lives for a long time. And business was almost ruled by those who ruled waterways at the time. Osaka had prospered for their rich rivers, as it was called "City of Water."
The Sumioshi-taisha Ground
File: Sumiyoshi-taisha, keidai-2.jpg
from the Japanese Wikipedia
（Taken on May 28, 2017）
The Sumioshi-taisha Main Hall
File: Sumiyoshi-taisha, hongu-2 honden.jpg
from the Japanese Wikipedia
（Taken on May 14, 2016）
Osaka did good as a fruit of their waterways. And it was not unnatural for them to enshrine the deities presiding navigation. It was necessary. However, today water transport is not major as it used to be. Needless to mention, the reason is that land transport became major instead in the 20th century. As you know, it was made by motorization growth. That's just a result of going with the current. The trend of the times. There is nothing unnatural.
What did it make? That made water transport distant from Osaka people. And I suppose they also became distant from the Sumiyoshi-taisha gradually. I think so. The further water transport goes, the more infrequent praying to the deities that preside navigation is. The 20th century worked as a switch on the Osaka history, said I above. How about the 21th century? We have to think it again as long as living in Osaka. Living in Osaka is taking over Osaka history, I guess.
