The oldest park in Osaka, opened in the 6th year of the Meiji Era (1873). It remains busy year-round, with Cherry Blossom Festival in spring under the fully blooming cherry trees, Sumiyoshi Festival (Nagoshi-ooharai-shinji) of the neighboring Shimiyoshi-taisha Shrine in summer, and New Year's visits in January. The park used to be a part of the premises of Sumiyoshi-taisha Shrine; it retains the riding ground of the shrine, and the Shiokake-michi that runs east and west through the center of the park was formerly the front approach to the shrine. The Takatoro that stands in the area facing Route 26 is said to be Japan's oldest lighthouse built in the end of the Kamakura Period as a votive light to the Sumiyoshi-taisha shrine (the current lighthouse was restored in the 49th year of the Showa Period). The ocean used to reach the western side of the park, and the scenery in front of the Sumiyoshi-taisha Shrine that faced the ocean was called Sumiyoshi-moyo, the archetype of the beautiful Japanese scenery of white sand and green pines; this scenery appeared frequently in waka and other poems. A monument inscribed with a poem composed by Basho when he visited the Takara-no-ichi-shinji of the Shrine on September 13th of the 7th year of the Genroku Period (1964) is found at the east entrance of this park.