Shōgun

Osaka Castle

The History of Osaka Castle

Osaka was a harbor on the Seto Inland Sea in the center of Japan. It was the closest harbor to the capital, Kyoto, to which it was connected by the Yodo River.&nbsp;Osaka itself was located in a delta of many large rivers, which made it not only a transportation hub, but also an almost impregnable place. For this reason, the Ikkō sect (a powerful Buddhist sect whose military might rivaled that of the great warlords) built its temple, Ishiyama Honganji, here.&nbsp;The temple was surrounded by strong fortifications, guarded by a large number of sectarians and soldier monks. It was only by cutting off all their supplies that Oda Nobunaga (Kuroda Nobuhisa in Shōgun) was able to force the sectarians to evacuate the fortress and leave Osaka.&nbsp;

After Nobunaga's death, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the Taikō) chose this site as the ideal place to build a new city. He made the old Ishiyama Honganji fortress the base for the construction of an impregnable castle.&nbsp;First, he widened the moats and made them so deep that it would be extremely difficult for an enemy to cross them. The earthworks were transformed into a maze of rock walls, with guard towers set atop the corners of the walls and strong gates at strategic points.

In the center, where the temple once stood, Hideyoshi built a magnificent tenshukaku (the castle's main tower or keep), six stories high. The black wooden outer walls of the keep were painted with designs of paulownia, chrysanthemum, and peony in gold. The roof tiles were decorated with gold foil at the end of the eaves.&nbsp;According to Jesuit records, the tenshukaku could be seen from afar because of its gold ornamentation. On the top floor, there was a balcony with a black railing. The tenshukaku was used for the storage of weapons and Hideyoshi's treasures. Besides strengthening the castle's defense, the tenshukaku was designed to impress passing warlords.&nbsp;By building Osaka Castle, Hideyoshi wanted to show the world that he was the most powerful ruler in the realm. The tenshukaku was remodeled several times, but for Shōgun it was reconstructed based on scientific research and a drawing of the tower made between 1596 and 1600.

An entrance to a palace consisted of a large building called the&nbsp;tōzamurai&nbsp;with a typical Chinese-style curved gable roof. The&nbsp;tōzamurai&nbsp;served as a reception and waiting room for guests. Behind the moats, gates, and guard towers were several palaces with a myriad of lavish buildings that housed several thousand people of the warrior class, creating a hotbed of political intrigue.

Within the honmaru (innermost bailey of the castle), Hideyoshi built a large palace near the tenshukaku. This was the main palace, called the okugoten (innermost palace), an enormous complex of lavish buildings designed as living quarters for Hideyoshi, his family, and several hundred ladies-in-waiting.&nbsp;At night, only women were allowed in the palace, and even during the day, access for men was strictly limited to the guards and an occasional important visitor. After Hideyoshi's death, the heir Hideyori (Yaechiyo in Shogun) and Yodo-no-kata (Lady Ochiba in Shogun) lived there.&nbsp;To the south of this main palace was another palace called omotegoten (the front palace). This palace was used for the administration of the country. It was in this palace that Hideyoshi received the warlords and gave orders. The omotegoten, in turn, was a huge complex with countless buildings and halls, the most important of which was the ceremonial meeting hall.

Inside Osaka Castle

A samurai meeting hall was always designed in the same way. The hall was usually divided into two or more parts, separated by sliding doors that could be completely removed. The innermost part was on an elevated platform. This is where the ruler sat.&nbsp;Other people could not enter this platform, except for the ruler's family members or his koshōs (young samurais, the lord's bodyguards). The floor of the other section adjacent to the innermost section was lower.&nbsp;When receiving guests, the lord's most trusted vassals and councilors would sit at the two ends of the section closest to the elevated platform, facing each other. The warlords or other vassals who came to visit the lord in audience sat farthest away from the lord, facing the elevated platform.&nbsp;The tatami mats in the hall were arranged so that the warlords and vassals were allotted a certain number of tatami mats to separate them from the lord, according to their status. Hierarchy was extremely important in samurai culture. This was manifested in many ways, one of which was the positioning during an audience with the lord.

All the rooms in the palace were built according to the same pattern. The floors of the rooms were covered with tatami mats. Around the rooms were corridors with wooden floors.&nbsp;The rooms were separated from the corridors and from each other by sliding doors and interior walls decorated with beautiful paintings and gold leaf. These sliding doors could be easily removed to open the rooms to the beautiful gardens surrounding the buildings.&nbsp;This type of structure was called gotenzukuri (traditional palace structure). The same type of structure could be seen in any warlord's palace or samurai's residence. The garden was an important part of the architecture. With the open structure of the palace, the samurai would connect with nature.

Toranaga and the other Regents live in guest palaces inside the castle walls. Gated and filled with their own samurai, they give the impression of independent castles, yet they remain in Ishido's domain. In this way, the ruler of Osaka Castle can maintain control over allied warlords.&nbsp;Toranaga's mansion is called the West Palace, the most lavish of all the guest residences. Toranaga travels from his home city of Edo to meet with the Council of Regents, and he resides in the West Palace with his consorts and close retainers.&nbsp;

The West Palace in History

Around the inner moat was a second moat. The space between the inner moat and the second moat was called ninomaru (second bailey of the castle). Hideyoshi's family members and some of his chief vassals lived in the southern and eastern parts of the ninomaru.&nbsp;The western part of the ninomaru was called nishinomaru (western bailey of the castle). There was a magnificent palace called nishinomaru goten (Western Palace). In the ninth month of the fourth year of Keichō (1599), Tokugawa Ieyasu (Yoshii Toranaga in Shogun) moved into the West Palace and enlarged it substantially.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu traveled to the West Palace, he had to pass through the many monumental gates and bridges that protected Osaka Castle. He probably entered the ninomaru through the main gate, the ōtemon, located on the southwest side of the castle. This was a yagura gate, a two-story gate. After passing through this gate, he had to pass through a courtyard and another gate before reaching the West Palace.&nbsp;When Ieyasu wanted to go to the omotegoten to attend the council of regents, he had to go to the southwestern edge of the honmaru and pass through the Sakura Gate, another sturdy yagura gate. He then had to pass through a courtyard and another gate before reaching the entrance to the omotegoten.

The structure of the West Palace was not much different from the Main Palace: numerous lavish buildings with tatami rooms, connected by wooden corridors overlooking beautiful gardens, with wall and sliding door paintings.When William Adams (John Blackthorne in Shogun) was brought before Ieyasu, he wrote in a letter to his wife in England about the West Palace: "a wonderful costly house, gilded with gold in abundance". Adams most likely met Ieyasu in a meeting hall similar to the ceremonial meeting hall in the main palace, with an elevated platform reserved for the lord.

Every legend begins with a story.&nbsp;Explore the vision and artistry behind FX's Shōgun's groundbreaking series. Join host and staff writer Emily Yoshida as she sits down with the creators, cast, and crew that brought Sengoku Era Japan to life.

Osaka Castle | FX Shōgun Viewers Guide

The Seat of Power

The History of Osaka Castle

Inside Osaka Castle

The West Palace

The West Palace in History

Explore the characters of Osaka Castle

Toranaga

Blackthorne

Mariko

Yabushige

Ishido

Fuji

Buntaro

Hiromatsu

Nagakado

Ochiba

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