[Osaka/Osaka Castle] Pilgrimage tour guide to the sacred sites of famous castles that mark the history of prosperity and turmoil among the people of Japan (Osaka Castle area)

This is a plan to commemorate and make a pilgrimage to the sad sacred place where SAMURAI and his friends were defeated in the Osaka Siege in the last war and fell to the castle, wearing armor and helmets reminiscent of the battle. ~ A famous castle that records the history of prosperity and turmoil of the people of Japan ~ This is how Osaka Castle is introduced on its official website. However, there was no trace of Osaka Castle, which boasted of being impregnable, as all of the moats other than the main castle and the moat that had been dug back during the peace of Ieyasu's plot at the Osaka Siege were filled in. The Tokugawa army destroyed the Sanada army and invaded the castle one after another, led by the Echizen army led by Matsudaira Tadanao, who was the first to arrive.The fire set by a Tokugawa army informer in the main castle kitchen quickly destroyed the castle tower. Osaka Castle finally fell at midnight on the 7th. When Hinomoto's greatest soldier, Nobushige, was a hostage of the Toyotomi family, he was liked by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, so he was treated more like a vassal than a hostage. The reason Yukimura sided with Toyotomi, who was at an overwhelming disadvantage at the Battle of Osaka, was to protect his loyalty to Hideyoshi. ``This Yukimura was summoned to a place where he was simply trying to prolong his life, and he was given honor as a samurai. This kindness cannot be replaced by land or money. ''When Ieyasu tried to persuade him to defect, he said, ``I have no intention of defecting even if I receive half of Japan.'' ``If you forget your debts and indulge in self-interest, can you call yourself a human being?'' he left behind the words of Hinomoto's greatest soldier.

First, let's take a look at the soaring castle tower from the perfect spot where you can see the castle tower up close from Aoyamon. To access the main castle from Aoyamon, you must cross a bridge called Gokurakubashi. The name of the bridge originates from the people who crossed it on their way to Amida-do Hall (Gokuraku Jodo) at Ishiyama Honganji Temple, which was located in this area before Osaka Castle was built, hence the name ``Gokuraku Bridge.'' If you take in the view of Gokuraku Bridge, which has spanned this area since ancient times, as well as the water moat, stone walls, and castle tower, you will get a view that smells of history.

He passed away at the age of 23. In 1615 (Keichō 20), Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother, Yodo-dono (Chacha), committed suicide when the shogunate army invaded Osaka Castle during the Osaka Summer Siege. Unfortunately, no famous quotes by Toyotomi Hideyori remain. What did he say to Yodo-dono (Chacha) and his vassal Harunaga Ohno when the castle tower also went up in flames and he was forced into Yamazato-maru? Not even a final poem was left behind. Perhaps he expressed regret, or perhaps he no longer had any regrets, but no one survived to hear his last words. Near the monument where he committed suicide, there is a pagoda of 32 people who died on par with Yodo-kun, and some people feel a kind of grudge as the statue of Yodo-kun faces down. Also, during the Edo period, phenomena such as the voices of fighting between soldiers and soldiers being heard in the middle of the night at Osaka Castle, and fireballs appearing in the dry moat on rainy summer nights occurred, which were said to be caused by the ``unresolved grudges of the Toyotomi soldiers.'' It is said that he was feared.

After the winter campaign in Osaka, Ieyasu devised a strategy against the Toyotomi side and included in the terms of the peace agreement the reclamation of the moat. In this way, not only the outer moat but also the inner moat, Ninomaru and Sannomaru, were reclaimed. And after stripping Osaka Castle...Osaka Natsu no Jin⚔ begins the war. “The Battle of Osaka: The Phantom Flood” The biggest decisive battle of the Sengoku period, the Battle of Osaka. Tokugawa Ieyasu attacks with a large army of about 200,000 people. However, what spread out in front of them was Osaka Castle, which had been turned into an impregnable water fortress by a massive flood. The young prince, Hideyori, was in command of the operation. The Kyoto Highway, which was developed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to connect Osaka and Kyoto, was also an embankment (Bunroku Embankment) that protected the left bank of the Yodogawa River. During the Osaka Winter Siege, Hideyori caused a flood by causing the castle to collapse, creating a large lake northeast of Osaka Castle, which he used for defense. Finally, one of the mysteries of Osaka Castle is that there are dry moats on both sides of the Sakura Gate. Approximately one-third of the inner moat is empty, and the rest is a water moat filled with water. It is said that this area has been an empty moat since the Hideyoshi era, and was not filled in during the Osaka Siege. However, it seems that it is still not known why this area was made into a dry moat.