Osaka Castle
The castle that played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period.
Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. The inner keep is situated on a plot of land roughly one square kilometre, built on two raised platforms of landfill supported by sheer walls of cut rock, using a technique called burdock piling, each overlooking a moat. The keep is five stories tall on the outside and eight on the inside, built atop a tall stone foundation.
Quick Facts
- Built
- 1583
- Builder
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi
- In use
- 1583–1945
- Location
- Osaka, Japan
Lore & Background
In 1583 Toyotomi Hideyoshi commenced construction on the site of the Ikkō-ikki temple of Ishiyama Hongan-ji. The basic plan was modeled after Azuchi Castle, the headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. Hideyoshi wanted to build a castle that mirrored Nobunaga'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 to impress visitors. In 1585, the Inner donjon was completed. Construction was completed in 1597, and Hideyoshi died the following year. Osaka Castle passed to his son, Toyotomi Hideyori. In 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu besieged the Toyotomi clan forces in Osaka castle during the winter, starting the Siege of Osaka. Although the Toyotomi forces were outnumbered approximately two to one, they managed to fight off Tokugawa's 200,000-man army and protect the castle's outer walls. Ieyasu had the castle's outer moat filled, thereby negating one of its main outer defenses. During the summer of 1615, Hideyori began to restore the outer moat. Ieyasu, in outrage, sent his armies to Osaka Castle again, and routed the Toyotomi men inside the outer walls on June 4. Later, Osaka Castle fell to the Tokugawa shogunate and the Toyotomi clan perished, as Toyotomi Hideyori and Yodo-dono committed seppuku and the castle buildings burned to the ground.
Reader's Guide
Strategically, Osaka Castle controlled vital trade routes and the Kansai region. Its defenses included two moats (an inner and an outer one). The inner castle moat consists of two types: wet (northern-easterly) and dry (south-westerly). The outer moat surrounds the entire castle and consists of four water-filled sections, each representing a cardinal direction (North, East, South, West). The castle grounds cover approximately 61,000 square metres (15 acres). A series of moats and defensive fortifications surrounds the main keep. The outer moat has two main sentry checkpoints: the Aoyamon Gate (in the north-east) and the Otemon Gate (in the opposing south-west). There are two places to cross the inner moat: Gokuraku-bashi Bridge (located in the North) and Sakuramon Gate (the main sentry point in the South).
Did You Know?
- In 1660, lightning ignited the gunpowder warehouse, and the resulting explosion set the castle on fire; in 1665, lightning struck and burnt down the tenshu.
- In 1931, the ferroconcrete tenshu was built.
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