This old shrine is said to have been built by the 18th emperor of Japan, who dedicated the shrine to his father.
First moved to Uehonmachi, Tennoji-ku from elsewhere, the shrine moved to its present location in 1583 after Toyotomi Hideyoshi constructed Osaka Castle. Once called Kami-Namba Shrine after the name of the locality, the shrine received its current name in 1875. In the Edo period, a small Inari shrine situated within the precincts of Namba Shrine, known as "Bakurocho-no-Oinari-san," was more famous than Namba Shrine, as the cult of Inari was booming then. In 1811, Uemura Bunraku-ken opened a small Bunraku puppet playhouse on the grounds of Namba Shrine. The shrine's summer festival, Himuro Matsuri, is held annually on July 20th and 21st. Crushed ice is handed out to worshippers, and it's believed that those who eat this ice will be given the strength to withstand the summer heat.