Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle, or Osaka-jo in Japanese, is a stout fortress-like castle in the middle of Osaka. It covers an area of 60,000 square meters, and contain 13 structures which were inscribed as Important Cultural Assets by the Japanese government. What we see today is a replica of the original built by the Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1585. Work on the castle started in 1583. He employed conscripted labor of ten of thousands of peasants to erect this massive structure, completed within three years.

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in 1598, the castle passed to his son Toyotomi Hideyori. Two years later, another warload, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, battled Hideyori, defeating him in the Battle of Sekigahara. There followed several more clashes between the armies of the Tokugawa and Toyotomi clans. Meanwhile, Tokugawa Ieyasu set up his base in Edo (present day Tokyo). In 1615, he vanquished Toyotomi Hideyori and destroyed Osaka Castle.

Ieyasu's successor, the Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, reconstructed Osaka Castle in 1620. The massive walls, built of interlocking granite blocks without mortar, still stands today. In 1843, it underwent another restoration and repairs. Unfortunately, it was again damaged during the conflict surrounding the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which resulted in the emperor moving the capital from Kyoto to Edo, renaming it Tokyo. During that time, Osaka Castle became a military barracks.

In 1928, the mayor of Osaka conducted a successful fund raising campaign, allowing him to restore the main tower of Osaka Castle. But it was once again destroyed by bombing raids in 1945 during World War II. The present main tower of Osaka Castle is a replica constructed in 1995, completed in 1997. Although the outside remains the same, the interior, complete with elevators, is nothing like a Japanese castle at all.

I have visited Osaka Castle on two different trips. Unfortunately, the weather on both occasions was pretty bad. Nevertheless, as I went during sakura season, the grounds around the castle was abloom with cherry blossoms.

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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