Osaka Castle

The Osaka Castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1582 and was his place of rule until he died. There were five towers with the main one being nine stories tall. Osaka's tenshu was more of a storehouse than anything else. It was not a place for receiving guests like some other castles did, (Okayama and Kumamoto). There were reception halls for guests in the palace near the tenshu though. The walls of these rooms were covered with paintings of landscapes and legendary Japanese and Chinese history. Hideyoshi's guests wrote that there were three reception rooms with 18 tatami mats in each one. The fusuma, (which usually separated the rooms), were removed and displayed behind Hideyoshi's seat on the jodan. The beautiful fusuma had paintings of birds, flowers, and trees set on gold screens.

The entire castle was surrounded by a huge moat. This moat could only be crossed two ways and each one was strategically built and placed. A small bridge was one of the ways. This was very smart because in time of attack, it could easily be destroyed and then the moat would protect the castle.

The tenshu of the Osaka was hevaily fortified. It had three stone walls surrounding it and in those, three turrets before one could reach the actual tenshu. Even with all this protection, it was defeated by Tokugawa forces. The Sieges of Osaka Castle, (from 1614-1615), is why so little remains of the castle. The leader of the sieges, Tokugawa Ieyasu then built another castle in 1620 with a new tenshu. The last Tokugawa shogun, Keiki stayed here while at Kyoko to surrender to the supporters of the Meiji Restoration. The grand tenshu was destroyed by lightning in 1665 and to this day, it has not been rebuilt.

It is thought that the palace in the honmaru of the Osaka Castle was built around the same time as some of the buildings in the Nijo Castle were. This is because in 1984 when the Nijo Castle was being repaired, some of the materials found were actually intended for the building of the Osaka Castle.