Osaka Castle

    The history of Osaka castle goes far back into Japan's history.  In the autumn of 1496, a buddhist priest named Renyo created a quarters for monks near the site for Osaka castle.  This quarters continued to grow and eventually became Hongan temple (aka Ishiyama Hongan-ji).  In 1580 the temple fell under the rule of Oda Nobunaga but in only two years a retainer (Mitsuhide Akechi) of Nobunaga launched an attack and overcame him.  Oda Nobunaga took his own life at Honno temple in Kyoto.  Nobunaga was succeeded by Hideyoshi Toyotomi and seized control of Osaka.  In around 1583, the large scale castle construction was started at the site of Hongan temple and it later became Osaka castle.  Unfortunately during the Summer war of 1615 Osaka castle was completely destroyed by fire.

    The castle changed hands a couple of times before it was rebuilt by Tokugawa Hidetada in 1620.  It took approximately 9 years to totally complete the construction.  Throughout time various sections of the castle were destroyed by fire, lightning and other natural disasters.  In 1931 the main tower was rebuilt along with several reconstructions up until modern times.  Now the castle is home to a variety of things to see.  They have a museums, an assortment of displays including some of the Kuki family artifacts (see Kukishin Ryu History) and have even installed elevators.  Admission is currently around 600 yen (about 6 US dollars) and is open during the summer season from 9am to 5pm.  The castle is closed Dec. 28th through Jan. 1st.

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Osaka Castle