Hello to our readers once again! I'm sure you've been eagerly waiting for this trip to be shared, and of course, I will be more than happy to share everything with you, so here we go!
The very first place we're gonna go to is the Osaka Castle. To go to Osaka Castle, we took the JR Osaka Loop line and paid Y150, and got off at Osakajokoen station.
The construction of Osaka Castle started in 1583, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was the leader at the time, intended for it to be the center of a new, unified Japan under Toyotomi rule. The castle , once built, was the largest castle at that time.
A few years after Hideyoshi's death, however, Tokugawa troops attacked and destroyed the castle and terminated the Hideyoshi lineage. The castle was rebuilt by Tokugawa Hidetada in the 1620s, but the main castle tower was struck by lightning in 1665 and was burnt.
The present structure was only built in 1931, and somehow miraculously survived the air raids during the war. The castle tower is now modern, which is now a museum about the castle's history and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
There was a long line of people trying to go into the museum, so we skipped that part, and we just walked around the castle grounds and the nearby Nishinomaru Garden.
The castle tower is surrounded by secondary citadels, turrets and moats, and these two structures are found on the southwestern part, near the Otemon gate.
This is the Otemon gate of the castle, and this gate is the access point you first get to if you take the Tanimachi Subway Line or the Chuo Subway Line.
As with all castles, it is surrounded by moat, and Osaka Castle is no exception. The moat is also filled with water, and in former times, it would be an added security against intruders.
There are cruises that start from the castle, but of course we did not take one, as we were so engrossed in admiring the sakura trees at the grounds and the nearby garden.
The entire Osaka Castle Park covers about two square kilometers with lots of green space, sport facilities, a multi-purpose arena, and a shrine dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had the castle built, originally.
This picture was taken right before we went up the hill that goes to the Castle tower.
It would have been hard to invade the castle grounds with the height of the moat considered.
Looks impressive, eh? Apparently everything inside is already modernized, including an elevator for easier access.
There were quite a lot of people in the castle grounds that day, some locals, some tourists like us, all there to admire the castle and the grounds.
This was the view we saw as we went up the hill, approaching it from below.
I took this picture from the nearby Nishinomaru Garden, and I love how the cherry blossoms provide a dramatic vibe to the castle tower.
The Osaka Castle grounds is one of the most famous places to have hanami, or the spring picnics people have, in all of Osaka.
People bring their picnic mats, bring food, and even drinking alcohol is allowed in the parks, so it could get very crowded. We had our own hanami somewhere else, as we did not bring our picnic mat on this day.
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