In the Edo period (1603 to 1867), this place was called “Hakken” since it had eight (hachi) inns (ken), and flourished as a landing place for the “sanjukkoku-bune” boats that used to travel on the Yodo River linking Kyoto and Osaka. It has a long history and it was mentioned in the “Man’yoshu”（Anthology of Japanese poems）as “Naniwa-zu” port.
