• A0S05 – Semba, the Business Town
卸問屋街と船場センタービル
中央区 マスコットキャラクター ゆめまるくん
  • Semba Center Building and the wholesale district

The Semba area, which centers around the Semba Center Building, has developed as an area with a long history of being a home for wholesalers of textiles, accessories, and sundries. After the end of World War II, improvement of urban infrastructure, including the new construction and the expansion of streets such as Mido-suji, Yotsubashi-suji, and Sakai-suji, was carried out at a rapid pace. Amongst all that change, Semba underwent a massive transformation from a district structured around the rivers flowing east to west to today’s current structure with Mido-suji serving as the north-south axis of the city. As a result, the Dobuike area, where textile wholesalers are concentrated, also boomed, and it has become a commercial area that represents not only the Kinki region but western Japan as a whole.
The Semba Center Building, which stretches from Mido-suji in the west to beyond Sakai-suji in the east, was constructed in 1970, its completion timed in conjunction with the EXPO ’70 Osaka, and has become the new face of Semba.
In 2015, its outer walls were completely refurbished and its image was made new by covering the outer walls with modern aluminum paneling. It celebrated the 50th anniversary of its opening in March 2020, and serving as a home not only for wholesalers but also retailers, it has become a landmark that represents the area.

地図をみる
コラムをよむ
せんば心斎橋筋
  • Semba Shinsaibashi-suji

Just like the neighboring Shinsaibashi North Shopping Arcade, this shopping street has existed long enough that it appeared in literature more than 300 years ago during the Enpo era (1673-1681).

南久宝寺町の問屋街
  • Minamikyuhojimachi wholesale district

Its history as a wholesale district goes back to the Edo period (1603-1867), when it was primarily the territory of sundries wholesalers. In the postwar era, it became a cash-based wholesale district for clothing and accessories.

丼池（どぶいけ）ストリート
  • Dobuike Street

In 1993, the name changed from Dobuike Tonyagai to its current name, the covered arcade portion was removed, and its symbolic arch was installed.

せんば心斎橋筋
  • Semba Shinsaibashi-suji

This area was already serving as a shopping district all the way back in 1622, when Shinsaibashi Bridge was built over Nagahori River.
<late Showa era (1926-1989; year unknown)>

船場南久宝寺町問屋街
  • Semba Minamikyuhojimachi wholesale district

View of the area before the covered arcade was removed.
<late Showa era (year unknown)>

船場丼池問屋街
  • Semba Dobuike Tonyagai

This was the first covered shopping arcade in Osaka.
<late Showa era (year unknown)>

商いのまち船場
  • Semba Center Building Minamikyuhojimachi Semba Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street Dobuike Street
  • Column

It is said that the term “detchi” (apprentice) that was common in the Edo period comes from a corrupted form of “deshi” (disciple), and when children reached the age of graduation from elementary school they began to work in shops. In the Meiji era (1868-1912), the types of businesses apprentices were involved in could be identified according to the color of the strings on their aprons. For example, brown strings for Doshomachi (pharmacies), white for Yokobori-suji (china shops), navy for Hommachi-suji (cotton and hemp fabric stores), and black for Mido-suji (shoe shops).
By being known for their types of business, apprentices came to take pride in their work, which helped them mature into fine Semba merchants.

中央区 マスコットキャラクター ゆめまるくん
中央区 マスコットキャラクター ゆめまるくん
A0S05 – Semba, the Business Town