If you step into Hozenji Alley, you will feel as if you went as far back as to the early Showa period (about 80 years ago). On both sides of the narrow stone-paved road can be seen Japanese restaurants and bars tightly standing side by side. The origin of Hozenji Alley was the open-air stalls in the precinct of Hozenji Temple from the Meiji period through the Showa period. The sign board put up at the western entrance of the alley was written by Osaka’s most popular comedy actor, the late Kanmi Fujiyama, and the east one by a great rakugo storyteller, Katsura Harudanji Ⅲ. The sweet shop on the alley named “Meoto Zenzai,” was established in 1881. The shop that serves zenzai (red bean soup with pieces of rice cake) has been well known by the people since Sakunosuke Oda, a novelist born in Osaka, took it up as the base of his novel “Meoto Zenzai,” a story of a futile husband and a hardworking wife. Hozenji Temple, which had long supported the alley, was mostly burned down during the World War II, but Mizukake Fudo and Konpira-do hall remained. A lot of visitors come to this temple to pray for their business fortune or success in love. Hozenji Alley is the symbol of Minami area of Osaka City, and the place preserving friendly atmosphere of Naniwa (old-time Osaka).