Toyotomi
Osaka Castle
大阪城
| Alternate Name | Kin-jo |
| Founder | Toyotomi Hideyoshi |
| Year | 1583 |
| Reconstructed | 1931 (concrete) |
| Type | Flatland |
| Structure | 5 levels, 8 stories |
| Condition | Reconstructed |
| Rating | ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ |
| Historical Site | Special Historic Site |
| Historical Value | Top 100 Castles, Important Cultural Properties |
| Historical Artifacts |
Important Cultural Properties: Sengan Yagura, Inui Yagura, Kinmeisui Ido Yakata, Rokuban Yagura, Ichiban yagura, Enshogura, Kanagura, Tamon Yagura, Otemon, Sakura mon, hei |
| Location | Osaka |
| Map | Google Map |
| Access | JR Osakajo Koen Station |
| Website | Osaka Castle |
| Visited | December 1997 |
| Notes | I wish I had spent more time and taken more pictures here. I'll stop again one of these days when I'm in the area. |
| History |
Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Osaka-jo in 1583. Hideyoshi, being the great battle expert he was, designed the most formidable castle ever built in Japan. One large moat surrounded the whole castle with only two ways across it. One of those was a small bridge that could be easily defended or even destroyed if necessary. The inner grounds which contained the large donjon were actually built 3 levels above the water level of the moat. Any attacker would have to scale three high stone walls and climb over 3 sets of turrets to get to the inner grounds. Of course no castle is invincible and in 1615 it fell to the Tokugawa forces. Hideyoshi's heir, Hideyori, committed suiced before being captured. In 1620 Tokugawa completely renovated the entire castle and built a new donjon making the whole castle even bigger and grander than Hideyoshi's original. In 1665 the donjon was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. It was never rebuilt. |
| Photo Tags |
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Viewer Comments
(7) | Post CommentI don't think anyone's dumb enough to jump off the railing.
December 21, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Julian, I think it's just a net to prevent people from dropping stuff on others below or maybe from jumping over the railing.
October 24, 2009 at 01:22 PM
Is it a noren that hangs from the top of the castle? I didn't really notice it when I was there (many years ago) but I've been wondering what that is when I've seen pictures of it since then.
October 23, 2009 at 09:49 AM
Hi, my name is Mikey and I was wondering if any of you have any posters of this castle to add to my collection of jcastle posters. Email me at koenigm@doversherborn.org
April 15, 2009 at 02:47 AM
Here's a much better map in English http://www.osakacastle.net/english/park/map.pdf
April 01, 2008 at 02:13 AM
Try these sites. This map in Japanese is very good: http://www.osakacastle.net/access/map.pdf Here's one in English but is a bit hard to read: http://www.osakacastle.net/castle_en/kokuin/tokinoko.htm#map
April 01, 2008 at 02:11 AM
can't you guys put an easier map cause i need it for a Japan scrapbook project
March 31, 2008 at 05:19 AM