Osaka-jo

This morning we spent time getting from Hiroshima to Osaka. With the help of a few train station workers and one very friendly older gentleman, we navigated our way through the confusing Osaka Station to arrive at our hotel. We dropped our bags and went in search of food and Osaka-jo, a beautiful castle.

Since we had to navigate it by ourselves, without the help of a local, Osaka’s train and subway system is very confusing. I’m sure that Tokyo’s is even more confusing, but we were lucky to have Danna guiding us! After a mishap of going in the wrong direction on the first subway, we got ourselves sorted out. Our JR passes have come in handy more than I thought they would. I thought they would only be for the bullet trains (the Shinkansen) going long distances, but we’ve discovered that there are many local JR trains that we can get on without having to get tickets for.

After a brief lunch we arrived at the Osaka-jo complex. We discovered that it is a good thing we got to Osaka when we did because the G20 Summit is being held here later this week and the castle is being closed to tourists. The complex was massive and astoundingly beautiful! The boulders that were used to build the walls surrounding the castle were huge. There was even a map inside the museum to show where the megaliths were located around the complex. We saw one as we were walking out. Scott stood next to it, so we could get a sense of just how huge it actually was.

The castle itself is surrounded by two moats and is up on a slight hill. The height of it forces you to look up to see all eight stories of it at once. It didn’t seem to matter where you stood, you inevitably had to look up in order to take the entire structure in. The castle and again the engineering that had to go into it to build it mesmerized me. Just like the castle in Hiroshima, Osaka-jo is set up as a museum and gift shop. I believe this is because both castles were either destroyed or damaged during WWII and were rebuilt or fixed. The layout of the floors was slightly confusing as the stairs were numbered one thing and the landings a different number. We even skipped a level as we wound our way through the museum. The museum contained information on the history of Osaka, the feudal lord, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, whom built the castle, his life, and more samurai weapon and outfit displays. The top level was also an observation deck just like the Hiroshima Castle.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi is not only known for building Osaka-jo but also for unifying Japan. Construction began in 1583, and the castle was the largest in the country at that time. Osaka-jo was burnt down twice, both after Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s death. The first time was in 1615 during the Summer War and the second was in 1665 after the main castle tower was struck by lightening. To know that this castle was rebuilt each time it was destroyed speaks of the determination and tenacity of the Japanese people. I cannot even imagine having the imagination to create such a structure now, let alone hundreds of years ago without modern technology.