＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Osaka has many interesting place names. Today I would like to talk about the origins of four place names in central Osaka.
１．Senba＜船場（せんば）＞
Osaka merchants are famous as one of the three major merchants in Japan (Osaka, Omi, and Ise). The most representative of Osaka merchants are the Senba merchants, who boasted a high level of prestige.
Currently, most of the old merchant houses in Senba have been replaced with buildings, with the exception of a few that remain, such as the Konishi Co., Ltd. store, the Former Konishi House (a nationally designated Important Cultural Property).
Osaka first developed as a temple town within the Ishiyama Honganji Temple, and in 1583 became Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s castle town. After the fall of the Toyotomi clan, it came under direct control of the shogunate.
The Semba area is a quadrangle stretching 1km east to west and 2km north to south, surrounded by rivers and artificial moats that run from the west to the southwest of Osaka Castle. The eastern end is Higashiyokobori River, the western end is Nishiyokobori River, the southern end is Nagahori River, and the northern end is Tosabori River. (However, Nishiyokobori River and Nagahori River have now been filled in, and Higashiyokobori River remains, but the Hanshin Expressway Route 1 Loop Line runs south over it. The Hanshin Expressway Route 1 Loop Line runs north over the filled-in Nishiyokobori River.)
The area north of Honmachi-dori is sometimes called “Kita-Senba” and the area south of Honmachi-dori is sometimes called “Minami-Senba,” but they are both in the very heart of Osaka.
There are several theories about the origin of the place name “Senba.”
(1) It was a place where battles often took place, and was called “senba” (battlefield).
(2) It was a place where horses for Osaka Castle were washed, and was called “senba” (place to wash horses).
(3) It was called “saba” (sand bait) because it was a sandy beach, and this was corrupted to “senba.”
(4) In ancient times, it was a landing place for ships and became “semba” by omitting “arrived” from “arrived” in the name of the harbor
２．Kitahama＜北浜（きたはま）＞
Kitahama is known as a “securities town” and “financial district” along with Tokyo’s Kabutocho. While Kabutocho is called “shima,” Kitahama is called “hama.”
The name “Kitahama” comes from the fact that it is the beach north of Semba.
３．Tanimachi＜谷町（たにまち）＞
“Tanimachi” refers to the area just west of Osaka Castle, from present-day Tanimachi 1-chome to 9-chome.
The name “Tanimachi” comes from the fact that the Uemachi Plateau drops off to the west.As it is close to the Otemae government district and the Legal Affairs Bureau, there are many judicial scrivener offices and also many temples.
Sponsors who support sumo wrestlers are called “tanimachi,” and this name apparently comes from a surgeon in Tanimachi 6-chome, Susuki Joichi, who was such a big sumo fan that he built a sumo ring in his hospital for the makushita wrestlers, and who treated them free of charge and gave them pocket money.
It is said that there were other doctors and kimono merchants in Tanimachi besides Mr. Susuki, who are said to be the origin of the word “tanimachi.” This is likely related to the fact that many sumo stables used to have lodgings in the Tanimachi area during the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
４．Itachibori＜立売堀（いたちぼり）＞
“Itachibori” is an area in Nishi-ku, Osaka City, west of Osaka Castle. It borders Kita-kyuho-ji and Minami-Kyuho-ji to the east, Honden to the west, Enokojima and Nishi-Honmachi to the northwest, Shinmachi to the south, and Awaza to the north.
Since the Edo period, the Itachibori River has flowed in the south, the Satsumabori River in the northwest, and the Hyakkenbori River in the west, but they were filled in during the mid-Showa period. Since the Edo period, it has flourished as a distribution center for lumber, and since the Taisho period, it has become a wholesale district for metals, machinery, and other items.
The TV drama “Doterai Yatsu” starring Teruhiko Saigo was based on businessman Takeo Yamamoto, and the Osaka headquarters of Yamazen Co., Ltd., the company he founded, is located in Itachibori.
The name “Itachibori” comes from the fact that during the Winter and Summer Sieges of Osaka, the Date clan built a moat in this area and set up camp there, and it was called “Datebori＜伊達堀（だてぼり）＞.”
However, it seems that the common people of Osaka, who did not know much about the “Date clan” or could not read kanji well, misread it as “Itachibori” and so it came to be called this. Later, when lumber “standing sales＜「立ち売り」＞” were permitted, the kanji was changed to “Tachiuri＜「立売」＞”.