Osu

Osu Kannon temple was moved here in 1612 on Tokugawa Ieyasu's order when its original site flooded, and the market that had grown around it came too. What surrounds it now is about a kilometre of covered shopping arcades in a grid, and the mix is unusually broad for a Japanese shopping street: secondhand and vintage clothing in depth, electronics and parts shops that echo Akihabara at a smaller scale, anime and hobby stores, tea and traditional confectioners that have been there for generations, and a strong Brazilian and South American presence with food shops and restaurants, reflecting the Nikkei Brazilian communities of the Nagoya industrial region. The temple keeps a library including one of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Kojiki. Flea markets are held on the eighteenth and twenty-eighth of each month in the temple grounds.

History

Ōsu Kannon, officially Kitanosan Shinpuku-ji Hōshō-in, was first built around 1333 at Ōsu-gō in Nagaoka village, Owari Province, and in 1612, after repeated flooding, Tokugawa Ieyasu had it moved to its present site, the move being carried out by Naruse Masanari. Its library holds the oldest surviving manuscript of the Kojiki, in three books, along with many other books designated national treasures. A fire on 21 March 1892 took the main hall, the five-storey pagoda and the Niōmon gate; the hall and gate were rebuilt but not the pagoda, and the temple burned again in the air raids on Nagoya and was rebuilt in the 1970s (Wikipedia, Ōsu Kannon).

What to look for

• A kilometre of arcades - covered streets in a grid around the temple.
• A broad mix - vintage clothing, electronics, hobby shops and old confectioners together.
• Brazilian food - shops and restaurants reflecting the region's Nikkei communities.
• The temple library - holding one of the oldest surviving Kojiki manuscripts.

When to go

The eighteenth or twenty-eighth for the flea markets; all year otherwise. Half a day.

Practical notes

The arcades are commercial and some stretches are ordinary. Weekend crowds are heavy. Vintage prices have risen. The manuscript is not on general display.

Nearby

Nagoya Castle is north; Sakae is north-east.

Key facts