Hōzenji Yokochō (Chuo, Osaka, Japan)

What makes this place special?

At a Glance

Hōzenji Yokochō is a pair of stone-paved alleys in Namba, in the Minami district of Osaka. The two alleys stretch east to west for about 80 meters and are only about 3 meters wide. They lie on the former grounds of Hōzenji, a Jodo temple, and grew from stalls that served worshippers.

Longstanding kappo restaurants, bars, okonomiyaki shops and skewered cutlet stores line the stone paving and give the place a relaxed Naniwa atmosphere. The Mizukake Fudō statue is covered in moss, because people pour water over it as a prayer. The temple and the alley both burned in air raids during the Pacific War and were rebuilt afterward. The alley is the setting of Sakunosuke Oda's novel Meoto Zenzai and appears in a popular song, Tsuki no Hōzenji Yokochō.