section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  Ōsaka means "large hill" or "large slope". It is unclear when this name gained prominence over Naniwa, but the oldest written evidence for the name dates back to 1496.
  
  By the Edo period, 大坂 (Ōsaka) and 大阪 (Ōsaka) were mixed use, and the writer Hamamatsu Utakuni, in his book Setsuyo Ochiboshu published in 1808, states that the kanji 坂 was abhorred because it means "returns to the earth," and thus 阪 was used. The kanji 土 (earth) is also similar to the word 士 (knight), and 反 means against, so 坂 can be understood as "samurai rebellion." 阪 was the official name in 1868 after the Meiji Restoration. The older kanji (坂) is still in very limited use, usually only in historical contexts. When used as an abbreviation, the modern kanji 阪 han refers to Osaka City or Osaka Prefecture.