Osaka Castle

The original castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi; completed in 1586 after three years' building; it was then the largest castle in Japan. Almost all Hideyoshi's military commanders were required to contribute to stones for its construction; the largest of these is the stone known as the Higo-ishi, near the south entrance (19ft/ 5.9m high, 48ft/ 14.5m long), brought by the celebrated General Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) from the island of Shodo. After Hideyoshi's defeat by the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1614-15 the castle was destroyed, but it was later rebuilt by the Tokugawa shoguns for reasons of prestige. When the Meiji Restoration ended the Shogunate, the castle was burned down by the retreating Tokugawa forces. The present buildings