Osaka Castle

The Osaka castle is a typical japanese castle, just like you might imagine one. It's located directly in thhe city, which makes for an interesting contrast to the highrise buildings and the train stations beside it. As it should be for a castle, it sits on top of the hill and is surrounded by a pretty big moat. To stabilise the hill, there are large stone walls, made out of pretty large stones, which are smooth, but not cut into shape, so they have all sorts of forms, just like cyclopean masonry in old greece.
A broad path leads up to the square in front of the main tower (tenshu) and you have a beautiful view on it from there, even though you can see it from far away already. The building itself is made out of steel and concrete, because it was destroyed several times in it's lifespan and rebuilt in 1997 for the last time., but hat doesn't diminish the beauty of the castle. To the castle also belongs a shrine, which is to be expected of a castle or palace in Japan.
Originally the complex was built on command of Hideyoshi Toyotomi and was finished in 1583. At first, it was deemed to be impossible to conquer, but in as early as 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu was able to conquer it.Read more