The canal & its contested name — Shin-ebisu-bashi

A merchant dug this canal four hundred years ago — and died before he saw it finished. Even his name is argued over.

Key facts

Work on the canal began in 1612 and was completed in 1615. Nariyasu Dōton, who led it, died in the summer 1615 Siege of Osaka before it was finished; his partners completed it that autumn.
The new lord of Osaka Castle, Matsudaira Tadaaki, is said to have named the canal “Dōtonbori” in Nariyasu's memory, despite his having fought on the losing side.
A later popular story credited a “Yasui Dōton,” but the 1965 “Dōtonbori Trial” found, from the Yasui family's own 1600s records, that he never existed. Credit goes to Nariyasu.

Narration transcript

This water didn't carve itself. Four hundred years ago this was the edge of a boom town, and a local man named Nariyasu Dōton put his own money and years into digging a canal here to open the land up for trade. He started in 1612 — and he never saw it finished. In the summer of 1615 the great Siege of Osaka tore the city apart, and Dōton died in the fighting, on the losing side. His partners finished the canal that autumn.

Here's the twist. The new lord of Osaka Castle could have erased a loser's name. Instead he named the whole canal after him — Dōton's moat: Dōton-bori. That's the name you're standing on.

Now, if you read around, you'll meet a different founder, a man called Yasui Dōton. Be careful with him — because in 1965 a court dug into the old family papers during a land dispute and concluded that Yasui Dōton was, essentially, made up. The real man was Nariyasu. Four centuries on, people still argue about who gets the credit for the ground beneath your feet.