Osaka Castle

Osaka is the third largest city in Japan. The city is located on the island of Honshu at the place where the river Osaka flows into the gulf.

The most interesting sights of the city is undoubtedly Osaka Castle, which was built in 1576. It has a five-story main tower, which now has been restored to its former past, where also can be seen numerous works of art.

Osaka Castle was built to be the toughest and most beautiful in Japan. Over 30 000 people toiled day and night tirelessly in building the beautiful fairy palace, which is one of the most famous and liked castles throughout Japan.

The castle has played an important role in uniting the Land of the Rising Sun. It was erected on the site of the old temple Hongan-ji, which was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga, 30 years before the castle was built.

It was envisaged that the castle was to become the centre of a new and unified Japan under the rule of the ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. However, this plan was not implemented fully, because in 1615, several years after the death of Mr Toyotomi, the castle was totally destroyed by the troops of Tokugawa, thereby put an end to the practice of managing the Toyotomi family.

Osaka Castle was completely restored in 1620, but 45 years later its main tower was struck by lightning and completely destroyed. The tower was restored in its original form until 1931. It was a miracle that during the war no part of the castle was affected by frequent shelling and air attacks.

In 1997 a large-scale restoration of the castle turned it into this beautiful creation of human and river engineering, which is what we see today.

Significant improvements in the design part, entirely renewed and refreshed facades and interior walls and fully modernized tower attract huge numbers of visitors throughout the year . For greater convenience in the main tower was added even lift.

The entire dungeon is surrounded by an auxiliary fortress , gates, towers, massive stone walls and moats. Here you can examine the historical museum of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The whole complex covers an area of60, 000 square meters, on which were built 13 buildings with impressive architecture and beauty.

Osaka Castle is one of the favorite places in Japan for organizing different festivals.Particularly active for such events is the beginning of April when the season of blossoming cherry trees.

The beautiful garden of Osaka Castle has 600 cherry trees. The park covers an area of about 2 kilometers and is particularly interesting for its picturesque gardens and sports facilities, also located here is a multifunctional arena - Osaka-jo Hall.