Osaka Castle

Ōsaka-jō
	Today's Osaka Castle
Creation time :	1583
Castle type :	Hirajiro ( Lower Castle )
Conservation status:	Remnants of the wall, new building
Construction:	earlier stone and wood, today: concrete
Place:	Osaka
Geographical location	34 ° 41 '14.5 " N , 135 ° 31' 32.6" E Coordinates: 34 ° 41 '14.5 " N , 135 ° 31' 32.6" E

The Osaka Castle ( Japanese 大阪城 , Ōsaka-jō ) is located in the city of Osaka in Osaka Prefecture in Japan . It is one of Japan's most famous castles and played an important role in the unification of Japan in the 16th century.

construction

The castle has an area of about one square kilometer. It is built on two raised platforms, each surrounded by a moat. The central building has five floors that are visible from the outside and three floors that are invisible without windows. It stands on a high stone pedestal that is supposed to protect the base and, as was common in Japanese buildings in the past, was made almost entirely of wood. During the restoration at the beginning of the 20th century, the destroyed castle was rebuilt almost entirely from concrete, and since the renovation in 1997 it has even had an elevator.

history

New building in 1930

The first buildings of the castle were erected on the site of the destroyed Ishiyama Hongan-ji temple of the Ikkō-ikki on the orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and completed in 1583. The castle was originally built according to the plans of Azuchi Castle near Kyoto , but it was supposed to be far stronger than the castle. The castle, which is considered impregnable, was captured and destroyed by Tokugawa Ieyasu's troops as early as 1615 during the Summer War in Osaka . Reconstruction by the Tokugawas began in 1620 and lasted 10 years. After a lightning strike, the main tower burned down completely in 1665, but the castle continued to play an important role in the control of western Japan by the Tokugawa shoguns.

It was not until 1843, almost 200 years later, that the castle was partially rebuilt with donations. But in 1868 the castle was destroyed again during the wars of the Meiji Restoration . The remains of the castle were converted into barracks by the Meiji government in the following years. In 1928 the main tower of the castle was rebuilt after a very successful fundraising campaign by the mayor. After the main tower was badly damaged by bombing in the Second World War in 1945, it took several decades again until the castle was rebuilt in 1997 after three years of construction. In 1953 the original castle complex was declared a special historical site ( tokubetsu shiseki ).

Inside the castle there is now a museum, which is mainly dedicated to the history of the castle and the work of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The 8th floor houses a viewing platform.