10 days in Japan - 10/29/2022 to 11/7/2022

Day 5- Osaka Castle-11/2/22

 The interior of the main building of Osaka Castle is a museum with 8 floors devoted mainly to exhibits describing Hideyoshi Toyotomi and his era.  The museum has an extensive collection of over 10,000 historical items. As well as warrior-related exhibits of armor, swords, and other weapons, there is an elaborate folding screen depicting the 1615 Summer War that destroyed Hideyoshi's castle, intricate works of decorative art, contemporary portraits of Hideyoshi Toyotomi and other warlords, as well as extant correspondence penned in their own hand. Hologram-enhanced peep shows also give insights into how life was lived in and around Osaka Castle in the 16th century.

The 8th floor is the observation deck that offers panoramic view of the Osaka.

Cameras are not allowed on 3rd and 4th floor, however I took a few pictures before I knew pictures was not allowed.

 The 4th floor are holding actual artifacts found from the Hideyoshi Toyotemi era. 

Surcoat (loose robe worn over armor) bearing the design of Mt. Fuji on a yellow and black wool background.

Surcoat bearing three leaf hollyhock crests.

Sword bearing the inscription "Namban-tesu wo Motte Bushu Edo Ni Oite Echizen Yasutsugu.

Body armor

Floor 5- Huge scenes from the summer war in 1615 created in miniatures and hand painted folding screens.

Descriptions of war lords during the Summer war.

Display of all the miniature soldiers during the summer war of Osaka.

Reproduction of the fight betwenSanada's troop and Matsudaira's troop with 307 soldiers-1/20 scale

 Miniatures solders with individually clothing and facial expressions that are hand painted, and animals depicted in their unique pose.

Observation deck on the 8th floor -West View

View of the inner moat and the city in the background.

South View

North View-The circular rooftop is the Osaka-Jo hall a multipurpose arena that can hold about 16,000 people.

We are now leaving the museum.

View of the Osaka Castle from the ground level looking up.

Beautiful fall day with the leaves starting to change colors.

Giant head stone with Japanese inscription.

Benches for people to rest and enjoy the surrounding.

Gokuraku-bashi also known as Paradise bridge was built in 1626 when Osaka castle was restored.

The original bridge burned along with the castle in 1868. It took nearly 100 years for a new bridge to take its place.

In 1965, when Osaka Castle was declared a Special Historic Site, Gokuraku-bashi was added.

Paradise bridge is over the inner moat.

View of the inner moat with Osaka-jo Gozabune boat

People taking a ride on Osaka-jo Gozabune Boat in Osaka Castle inner moat canal.

The sun over the inner moat canal.

We are now leaving the park.

Forest around the park.

Lunch time

We are headed to the Aquarium and on our way there we found this local restaurant.

They did not speak English but they have the plastic food display so we just pointed to what we wanted.

Covid precaution!  Our table has a plastic divider between the two of us.

I had fried rice.

Hoa ordered cold soba noodle with quail egg.

The lunch was very simple but really delicious and was so cheap.  I think we paid like $16 for the whole meal.

NEXT.... Day 5-Osaka Aquarium