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Osaka Castle

Type Object Region East Asia Time 1583

Osaka Castle was begun by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1583 on the site of Ishiyama Hongan-ji, with its keep completed around 1585, serving as the political…

Timeline

  1. 1583Planned site of Osaka Castle's honmaru · Osaka CityAfter the Battle of Shizugatake, Hideyoshi chose the site of Ishiyama Hongan-ji to build a castle, conscripting daimyo to transport stone and mobilizing tens of thousands of laborers while planning the castle town, making Osaka the new hub of his unified regime.
  2. 1585Osaka Castle keep · Osaka CityWithin about a year and a half the honmaru and the great five-story, eight-tier keep were completed; gilded tiles and the Oku Goten were used to receive envoys and display wealth, and European observers such as Luís Fróis recorded its magnificence, making the castle the ceremonial showpiece of Hideyoshi's regime.
  3. 1585–1598Osaka castle town · Osaka PrefectureOver the fifteen years of its existence Hideyoshi continuously added baileys and moats, and the castle town developed into the prototype of early-modern Osaka; during the Imjin War Osaka remained a supply and command base, and after Hideyoshi's death in 1598 the castle passed to the young heir Hideyori.
  4. 1598–1615Osaka Castle · Osaka CityHideyori and Yodo-dono made Osaka Castle the Toyotomi family's last stronghold. After the Winter Campaign of 1614 the outer moat was filled, and in the Summer Campaign of 1615 the castle fell and the Toyotomi buildings were burned; the Tokugawa subsequently rebuilt on the same site, rewriting the layout of early-modern Osaka Castle.

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