Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka

Surrounding these are the middle-class residential neighbourhoods of Shimizugaoka, Suminoe, Oriono, Dairyo, Minamisumiyoshi, Yamanouchi, and Nagai, which lies at the eastern end of the ward.

In ancient times, the kanji combination for the current day Sumiyoshi, 住吉, was pronounced Suminoe, and appeared in Man'yōshū (8th-century Japanese poetry).

The Japanese envoy to the Sui and T'ang dynasties of China departed there, and it was also Japan's portal to the Silk Road.

In the Middle Ages, the throne of Emperor Go-Murakami of the Southern Court was placed in the house of the chief priest of Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine for ten years.

Sumiyoshi Moyou, a famous picture map showing a Japanese place of scenic beauty (風光明媚な風景) depicts the landscape in the area of the shrine at the time.

In 1878, an act was passed for the organization of areas into a county system of gun (district), ku (ward), machi (town) and mura (village/neighbourhood).