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Shrine · Doshomachi / Kitahama

Sukunahikona Shrine 少彦名神社

A tiny shrine squeezed between office buildings in Doshomachi, Osaka's historic medicine district, dedicated to the Chinese and Japanese gods of healing and famous for papier-mache tiger charms.

HoursGrounds approx 9:00-17:00
ClosedOpen daily
PriceFree
Getting thereKitahama Station (Sakaisuji / Keihan Lines), 5 min; Yodoyabashi Station, 7 min
Time needed15-20 min
Best timeWeekdays; 22-23 November for the festival
Address2-1-8 Doshomachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka
Websitesinnosan.jp

About

Doshomachi has been the centre of Japan's pharmaceutical trade since the Edo period, when the shogunate licensed the wholesalers here to inspect imported Chinese medicines; big drug companies still have their headquarters along the street. The local guardian is Shinno-san, the shrine of Sukunahikona and the Chinese medicine god Shennong. In 1822, during a cholera outbreak, the merchants made a pill from tiger bone and distributed it with small papier-mache tigers blessed at the shrine, and the hariko no tora tiger charm is still the shrines symbol. The Shinno Matsuri on 22-23 November, the last festival of the Osaka year, fills the narrow approach with stalls. On the third floor of the building next door, the free Kusuri no Doshomachi Museum explains the history of the medicine trade.

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Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-09

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