Osaka was, during the 4th and 5th centuries, the centre of the Yamato nation, and was a city of considerable significance (in fact, it remained the capital till 694, when the seat of power shifted to Nara).

Over the coming centuries, Osaka (it was at that time known as Naniwa) relapsed into what it had been before the glorious days of the Yamato- it went back to being an insignificant backwater port. That is, until a nobleman and warrior called Hideyoshi Toyotomi came here and built a huge castle in Osaka towards the end of the 1500s. This brought about an influx of merchants and traders, and Osaka’s fortunes started to look up. In the centuries that followed, Osaka saw suppression- and destruction- by the Tokugawa Shogunate, but the commercial activity in the city continued to prosper. And with the coming of the Europeans, international trade and commerce became another aspect of the city’s business. Even today, that trend has continued- and Osaka is a major port, an important commercial centre in its own right.