Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle (大坂城・大阪城; Ōsaka-jō) is a castle in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan. Originally called Ozakajo, it is one of Japan's most famous castles, and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3000x2000, 954 KB) Summary This photo shows Osaka Castle in the city of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3000x2000, 954 KB) Summary This photo shows Osaka Castle in the city of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. ... Osaka Castle Chuo (中央区; -ku) is a ward in Osaka, Japan. ... Osaka City Hall Mayor Junichi Seki Address 〒530-8201 Osaka-shi,Kita-ku Nakanoshima 1-3-20 Phone number 06-6208-8181 Official website: Osaka City , Osaka ) is the capital of Osaka Prefecture and the third-largest city in Japan, with a population of 2. ...

The castle is situated on a plot of land roughly one kilometer square. It is built on two raised platforms of landfill supported by sheer walls of cut rock, each overlooking a moat. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and built atop a tall stone foundation to protect its occupants from sword-bearing attackers. The moated manor house of Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire, England Moats (also known as a Fosse) were deep and wide water-filled trenches, excavated to provide a barrier against attack upon castle ramparts or other fortifications. ...

The castle is open to the public, and is easily accessible from Osakajo Koen Station on the JR Osaka Loop Line. It is a popular spot during festival seasons, and especially during the cherry blossom bloom, when the sprawling castle grounds are covered with food vendors and taiko drummers. Osaka Loop Line(JNR 103) JNR201 Osaka Station Midosuji Gate Kyobashi Station West Entrance The Ōsaka Loop Line (大阪環状線 Ōsaka-kanjōsen) is a railway line in Japan operated by the West Japan Railway Company. ... Washington, D.C. Tidal Basin showing cherry trees in flower Cherry tree blossoms A cherry is both a tree and its fleshy fruit, a type known as a drupe with a single hard pit enclosing the seed. ... Taiko drummers in Aichi, Japan The word taiko (太鼓) means simply great drum in Japanese. ...

The grounds also house a museum, convention hall, and the Toyokuni Shrine dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

History

Osaka Castle

• 1583: Toyotomi Hideyoshi commenced construction on the site of the Ikko-ikki temple of Ishiyama Hongan-ji. The basic plan was modeled after Azuchi Castle, the headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. Toyotomi wanted to build a castle that mirrored Oda's, but surpassed it in every way: the plan featured a five-story main tower, with three extra stories underground, and gold leaf on the sides of the tower to impress visitors.
• 1585: Inner donjon completed. Toyotomi continued to extend and expand the castle, making it more and more formidable to attackers.
• 1598: Construction completed. Hideyoshi died. Osaka Castle passed to his son, Toyotomi Hideyori.
• 1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Hideyori's armies at the Battle of Sekigahara, and started his own bakufu in Edo.
• 1614: Tokugawa attacked Hideyori in the winter, starting the Siege of Osaka. Although the Toyotomi forces were outnumbered 2 to 1, they managed to fight off Tokugawa's 200,000-man army and protect the castle's outer walls. However, Tokugawa attempted to muzzle Toyotomi by filling up the castle's outer moat, rendering it largely defenseless.
• 1615: During the summer, Hideyori began to dig the outer moat once more. Tokugawa, in outrage, sent his armies to Osaka Castle again, and routed the Toyotomi men inside the outer walls on June 4. Osakajo fell to Tokugawa, and the Toyotomi clan perished.

This stone marks the place where Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother, Yodo-dono, committed suicide after the fall of Osaka Castle.

• 1620: The new heir to the shogunate, Tokugawa Hidetada, began to reconstruct and rearm Osaka Castle. He built a new elevated main tower, five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and assigned the task of constructing new walls to individual samurai clans. The walls built in the 1620s still stand today, and are made out of interlocked granite boulders with no mortar whatsoever: they are held together solely by each other. Many of the stones were brought from rock quarries in the Seto Inland Sea, and bear inscribed crests of the various families who laid them into the walls.
• 1665: Lightning strikes burned down the main tower.
• 1843: After decades of neglect, the castle got much-needed repairs when the bakufu collected money from the people of the region to rebuild several of the turrets.
• 1868: Much of the castle was burned in the civil conflicts surrounding the Meiji Restoration. Under the Meiji government, Osaka Castle was converted to a barracks for Japan's rapidly-expanding Western-style military.
• 1928: The main tower was restored after the mayor of Osaka concluded a highly successful fund-raising drive.
• 1945: Bombing raids on Osaka damaged the reconstructed main tower.
• 1995: Osaka's government approved yet another restoration project, with the intent of restoring the main tower to its Edo-era splendor.
• 1997: Restoration was completed.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 831 KB) Summary Osaka Castle, Photo taken by Richard Gueler, May 14, 2004. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 831 KB) Summary Osaka Castle, Photo taken by Richard Gueler, May 14, 2004. ... Hideyoshi in old age. ... The Ikko-ikki (一向一揆), literally single-minded leagues, were mobs of Japanese warrior monks and farmers, who rose up against samurai rule in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... The Ishiyama Hongan-ji ) was the primary fortress of the Ikko-ikki, mobs of warrior monks and peasants who opposed samurai rule. ... Azuchi castle is a very famous battle sight on the main island of Japan. ... Oda Nobunaga Oda Nobunaga (織田 ä¿¡é•· , June 23, 1534 - June 21, 1582) was a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. ... Gold leaf is a sheet of real, nearly pure gold, worked into extremely thin sheets only a few micrometres thick. ... Grave of Toyotomi Clan at Mount Koya Toyotomi Hideyori (豊臣 秀頼 Toyotomi Hideyori), 1593-1615, was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. ... Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (previously spelled Iyeyasu); 徳川 家康 (January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. ... Combatants forces loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu Commanders Ishida Mitsunari, others Tokugawa Ieyasu, others Strength 82,000 74,000 Casualties The Battle of Sekigahara or popularly known as the Realm Divide was a decisive battle on September 15, 1600 (on the ancient Chinese calendar, October 21 on... For the James Clavell novel, see Shogun or for the TV Miniseries. ... The siege of Osaka lasted from 1614 to 1615. ... June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x1500, 757 KB) Summary This monument marks the site where en:Toyotomi Hideyori (age 23) and his mother en:Yodo-Dono (49) took their own lives on June 4, 1615, at en:Osaka Castle in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x1500, 757 KB) Summary This monument marks the site where en:Toyotomi Hideyori (age 23) and his mother en:Yodo-Dono (49) took their own lives on June 4, 1615, at en:Osaka Castle in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. ... Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada Tokugawa Hidetada (徳川 秀忠 (1579-1632) was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. ... The Inland Sea and its major straits with the bay of Osaka (dashed) Formally named the Seto Inland Sea (瀬戸内海 Seto Naikai), the Inland Sea is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, three of the main islands of Japan. ... The Meiji Restoration (Japanese: 明治維新, Meiji-ishin), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to a change in Japans political and social structure. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Category:Osaka Castle

• The Wikitravel article on Osaka has some more information
• Picture of Osaka Castle
• Map of the castle
• Satellite photo of the castle and surrounds
• Other links and pictures of the castle