My Trip To Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle is located near the center of the city of Osaka and probably draws ever foreigner in the city within its confines eventually. So it's no suprise that I also made a trip to the castle. Especially given my interest in Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Osaka Castle was built by Hideyoshi in 1583 as he began to establish Osaka as a castle town. This cause merchants from all around to start moving to Osaka and the city began it's transformation into an economical and political center. During the Summer War of 1615, 17 years after the death of Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi's heir lost to the Tokugawa forces and the castle was burned to the ground.

From 1620 - 1629 Tokugawa Hidetada rebuilt Osaka Castle. And then in 1665 the main tower of the castle was struck by lightning and destroyed. In 1931 the main tower was rebuilt. After which the castle suffered heavy damage during bombing raids in WW2, although the main tower escaped any serious damage. In 1948 then the caslte was turned into the park that it is today and has since undergone many repairs and renovations.

Many people don't enjoy Osaka Castle as much as the "original" castles in Japan. The castle is incredibly modern (it even has an elevator inside) and this is a huge turn off for most is seems. I however enjoyed it a lot. The park is wonderful and the castle looks great from the outside. Inside the castle is an excellent museum that contains all kinds of interesting artifacts and information relating to the castle and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Of course if you're interested in seeing a more traditional style castle (i.e. one without an elevator) then Himeji Castle (also one of Hideyoshi's) would be better for you. In the meantime though, Osaka Castle has its place and is an interesting attraction.

Below are some of my pictures from my trip to Osaka Castle in January of 2002.

If you're interested in looking at more pictures of Osaka Castle as well as other Japanese castles (such as Himeji which I mentioned above) then check out the following link [it's a really nice site]:

http://www.shirofan.com/english.html

Or if you're interested in learning more about Toyotomi Hideyoshi then CLICK HERE and check out my page about him.