GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!
GoWithGuide
GoWithGuideFind your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip!

Osaka-Castle and Three Top Worriers in Japan: Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu

Kashima H.

by Kashima H.

(73 reviews)
Last updated : Oct 11, 202218 min read

General

I recently visited Osakajyo castle long interval of time since I did last time more than 5 years ago.  It seems that my impressive feeling to see the castle and enormous surrounding area has become largely changed with bigger impression than my previous one.
blog image
blog imageblog image

blog image

blog image

blog image

blog image

blog image

After I have started to do my task of tour guide for foreigners coming to Japan, l have studied more deeply about Japanese history and several historical great worriers ,specially three top worries who had founded the base of unifying Japan from 16th to 19th century.
The name is Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa.
I summarize the historical table with brief explanation during the era when Samurai worriers had started to hold ruling power from 11th century to 19th century as below.

Era

Name of Era

Years

History of Japan

History of Western & Orient

Heian era :794~1185

Bonsai was transferred from China.

794

Transfer of capital to ancient Kyoto

 

 

 

805

Saicho: Tendai sect of Buddhism

 

 

 

806

Kukai: Shingon sect

 

 

Fujiwara culture

 

The Phoenix Hall of Byodoin was founded.

962:  Holy roman empire was founded.

 

 

1095

Samurai worriers had began to appear.

1063: Tsuruoka-hachimangu shrine founded.

 

 

 

1175

Honen: Pure land sect of Buddhism

 

Kamakura rea: 1185~1321

Kamakura culture

1185

Battle of Dan-no-ura, Heike extinction

 

 

 

1191

1192

Eisai: Rinzai school

Yoritomo Minamoto unified all worriers in Japan.

1206: Chinggis khan unified Mongolia

 

 

1224

Shinran: Jodo-shin sect

 

 

 

1227

Dogen: Soto Zen

 

 

 

1253

Nichiren: Nichiren sect

 

 

 

1274

Bunei War (Mondai invation of Japan)

1271: Marc O’Polo: The travels of Marco Polo

 

 

1275

Ippen: Jishu sect

1279: Khubilai unified all China

 

 

1281

Khoan War (Mondai invation of Japan)

 

Nanboku-cho period: 1321~1399

 

1333

 

 

 

1336

 

Kamakura Shogunate was ruined.

The battle between north emperor side worriers and that of south side had began.

Takauji Ashikaga was assigned as Shogun unifying worriers.

1338: England,France the Hundred Years’ War

 

 

1392

 

1368

The north side and the south side had agreed to be unified.

Yoshimitsu Ashikaga was assigned as Shogun uniting worriers.

 

Muromachi era: 1399~1573

Kitayama culture: Noh and Kyogen started.

1397

 

1449

Kinkakuji founded by Yoshimitsu Ashikaga.

Yoshimasa Ashikaga was assigned as Shogun uniting worriers.

1453: East Roma empire was ruined.

 

 

1467~1477

War of Onin: power struggle between worriers parties and successor struggle between royal court had extended to the war that caused the burn field in Kyoto.

 

 

Higashiyama culture: painting in Chinese ink

 

 

 

Civil war era: 1480~1590

 

1489

Ginkakuji-temple founded by Yoshimasa

 

 

 

1543

Portugal transferred firearm to Japan

 

 

 

1549

Christianity was transferred.

 

Azuchi-Momoyama period: 1573~1600

 

1573

Muromachi Shogunate was ruined after Nobunaga Oda banishing for Yoshiaki Ashikaga as Shogun of Muromachi era.

 

 

 

1576

 

 

1582

Oda Nobunaga spread military force and founded the base of unifying all of Japan.

Nobunaga was assassinated by one of his top chief vassals.

 

 

Momoyama culture: tea ceremony started

1590

1598

Toyotomio Hideyoshi unified Japan.

Hideyoshi died due to disease.

 

Edo era: 1600~1867

 

1600

Battle of Sekigahara

 

 

 

1603

Tokugawa Iyeyasu became Shogun of Japan

1618~1648: Germany thirty years’ war

 

 

1612

Christianity was prohibited.

1617: Nikko Toshogu founded.

 

 

 

1637

Sankin-Kotai system started.

 

 

 

1639

Policy of seclusion had started.

1652~54: England & Holland War

 

Genroku culture: Kabuki, and Ukiyoe started

1684: Sumo as current style of promotion started.

1657

Great fire of Meireki in Edo occurred.

 

 

 

1702

Ako Roshi (forty-seven ronin) revenged for their load.of Ako castle.

1701: Industrial revolution started.

 

 

 

 

1765: Steve engine technology was renovated by Watt/England

 

 

 

 

1775~1783: American war of Independence

 

 

 

 

1776: United States Declaration of Independence

 

 

1782~1787

Great Tenmei famine

1789: French revolution

 

Kasei culture: Ukiyoe flourished such as Katsushika-Hokusai, Kitagawa-Utamaro, Utagawa-Hirishige and Toshusai-Sharaku

 

 

1806: Holy roman empire ruined.

 

 

1833~1839

Great  Tenpo famine

 

 

 

1853

Pery / USA Expedition

 

 

 

1854

Conclusion of the Convention of Kanagawa

 

 

 

1858

Treaty of Amity and Commerce between USA  and Japan

1861: Civil War in USA

Meiji Era: 1867~1912

 

1867

Restoration of imperial rule

 

 

 

1868

Meiji restoration established

 

 

 

 

New modernized country Japan started to realize rich country, industrial development and educational system establishment by importing advanced technology and political system from Western countries.

1871: German unified

To unify Japan means that all the organization of all Japan territories which include worriers, common people, court novel and temples & shrines are under controlled by the rule established commonly in Japan.
After the long period of civil war era (1480-1590), three great top worriers named Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu finally had unified Japan by taking over their effort among them as shown in above table if they did that with consciousness or not, I am not sure.

                                             Nobunaga
blog image

                                           Hideyoshi
blog image
                                                         Ieyasu
blog image

By visiting Osaka castle and watching that , I can images various historical events & struggle had occurred mainly caused by several historical great top worriers in Japan.
Hideyoshi founded Osakajyo castle after he unified Japan. He showed his great power to common people in Japan by the gorgeous and enormous castle and flourish castle town surrounding area.
He used to be a son of a farmer who is the lowest rank of people in Japan.  However , a lot of his positive clever strategy proposal to his load, Nobunaga Oda to whom he was a royal servant.  Eventually ,Nobunaga had considered Hideyoshi’s important capability for him to won their fight with other loads.  

Acheivement by Nobunaga
Nobunaga Oda was the genius load of a territory(current Aichi prefecture) in Japan at that time-flame of 16th century.
He was the actual revolutionary and the most important top worriers who dramatically had tried to change Japan to be unified from the confused world due to wars everywhere Japan during civil war era.
He imported a lot of goods, clothes, technology information such gun weapons and so-on. He was said to be the best dandy worriers wearing a kind of European clothes. He was nonconventional load and he did lots of new policy applied. One of those is that he hired worriers for his servants as “ability first” even the man used to be the lowest rank of farmer such as Hideyoshi Toyotomi.
As the result, thanks to his advanced strategy and his many excellent vassals, he finally unified Japan, for the most part,  however before he complete the task, he was assassinated by one of his top vassals named Mitsuhide Akechi.
One of the reason of assasination is due to his too much radical character caused Mitsuhide’s betrayal.
The event of assassination is famous called “Honnojino-hen”.
Many foreigners who had come to Japan to see Nobunaga at the time-flame wrote lots of description about Nobunaga and introduced him to the world. The common points described was that he was the greatest top worrier during 500 years of Samurai society in Japan.
As soon as the assassination was informed to all vassals , Hideyoshi Toyotomi who is the best top servant to Nobunaga quickly fought with Mitsuhide and won the battle that led him as the successor from Nobunaga.

Acheivement by Hideyoshi
After he completed to unify Japan, he applied several new evolutional rules to control Japan with peaceful and prosperity.One example is to clearly separate the rank of people between Samurai (worriers) and other people such as farmers and merchants.
He ordered farmers and merchants not to use swords except Samurai.
Another is to establish how to measure the accurate land area and rice crop quantity for all farmers in Japan and to establish how to pay the land tax to worriers by rice-crop. The base of this policy had been transferred and applied to later stage of Edo era.

Before he is dying due to illness, Hideyoshi  wrote the famous farewell poem as follows.
“I appeared as a dewdrop, and disappearing as it is. All of my beloved Naniwa(Osaka) is just a dream of dreams."
This poem has deep meaning that even he gained everything unifying Japan and prosperity in Naniwa(Osaka), Life is but a dream.
In other words, I did a lot of work for Japanese peace and enjoyment of my life specially in my residence of Huge Osaka castle and Naniwa(Osaka), however, those are finally a dream of dream just when I go to heaven.
Ieyasu Tokugawa also used to be one of top load who served to Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.  After Hideyoshi unified Japan, he patiently became a top member of Hideyoshi's vassal.
The era of above is called Azuchi-Momoyama period when the ruling power of Japan had been owned by from Nobunaga to Hideyoshi (16th century).

 After Hideyoshi's death , Ieyasu Tokugawa (East side of Japan) and Mitsunari Ishida who was one of a load servant to Hideyoshi (west side of japan) had fought by dividing worriers in Japan between east side and west side that is called the fight of Sekigahara.
As the result, Ieyasu won the fight and he gained the actual ruling power of Japan with Hideyoshi’s son "Hideyori” as only a symbol of Osakajyo-castle. After the long political and actual battle between Hideyori and Ieyasu, finally, Hideyori was defeated and killed by himself inside Osaka-castle which was completely burned out by Iyeyasu.  

Acheivement by Ieyasu
After Ieyasu unified Japan in 1603 shown in the history table, he reformed almost all of the Osakajyo-castle by himself because Ieyasu considered that the remains of Hideyoshi must be completely removed.  If you carefully see inside the construction of current Osakajyo-castle, you will find that almost all of the castle has been reformed by Ieyasu and his successors in Edo period.

The original Osakajyo castle and surrounding area constructed by Hideyoshi was much wider than that of current area.
As you know, after Ieyasu unified Japan, he transferred the capital of Japan from Osaka where Hideyoshi set the capital to Edo (current Tokyo). Ieyasu constructed Edo castle as the residence and capital center instead of Osaka castle.
However, Osaka still has continued to gain prosperity as a big merchant town.
And in parallel, Kyoto has continued as the center of traditional Japanese symbol as Shinto and related traditional culture up to now.
As such, if you understand above history of Japan, you might be able to have much more fun for visiting Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
Ieyasu founded the Edo era which had continued to be peace for 270 years that has led current Japan prosperity.
During the Edo era, the Shogunate government had applied the policy of seclusion and had limited the foreign trade parter only to China, Korea and Netherlands. It is said that one of the reason Edo era had continued to be peaceful for around 270 years and created Japan original culture such as Ukiyoe painting, Kabuki and so on is from the seclusion system without invaded by foreign countries.
Also, during Edo era, the education system for common people had been spread widely in Japan. Thanks to the system, more than 70% of common people learned the language & education that led the literacy rate as more than 50% which might be the highest rate in the world at that time.
However, on the other hand, during those days, some European countries had established advanced political governed system and advanced technology with enhancing the strong weapons. Therefore, during those timeframe, the technology gap between those countries and Japan had largely increased.  Finally, by Meiji restoration, the final Shugunate Yoshinobu Tokugawa returned their ruling power to Japan emperor and bloodlessly surrendered.
After the Meiji restoration by which Edo Tokugawa ruling power ended, the Remains of Edo castle has been transferred as Imperial palace at present.
After Ieyasu died with age of 75 in 1616.  His spirit was deified in Nikko Toshogu which is located far north-east from Edo as Ieyasu's order because he intended to protect Japan from any evil who are usually come from the direction even after his death.
blog image

  He also instructed his successors to set other deities in his Shrine as Yoritomo Minamoto and Hideyoshi Toyotomi who were the historical top worriers made the foundation of Worriers.
blog image
In above photo, left side of portable shrine is for Yoritomo, that of right side is for Hideyoshi and that of center is Ieyasu by himself.
He apparently understood their acheivement and showed the respect for them to contributed Japan become safe and rich country.
Also, during your visit in Nikko Toshogu, there are lots of evidence which show how Ieyasu hoped to attain the peace in Japan.
One example is the sculpture of sleeping cat and sparrows as shown below.
blog image

blog imageCats usually eat sparrows , however the cat carved at front top of the east entrance gate.is sleeping and the sparrows carved on the back side of the gate are happily playing. As such, they are cooperating to live each other.
Please vist below site showing Osaka tour registered by me.

Osaka castle

 Please once visit Osakajyo castle and try to see the atmosphere with a little understanding above historical background.

                                                                                                                                                                            By Kashima

 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you like my article?

You can send me a message to get a customized itinerary and quotation for an unforgettable experience.

I'll be waiting for you, so please check my profile and get your trip plan now

Kashima H.

Kashima H.

4.66 / 5
(73 reviews)

Plan your trip to Osaka with Kashima H.

Chat with a local tour guide who can help organize your trip.

Send a Message

Tours By Kashima H.

Hakone Scenic, Historical and Culture tour From Tokyo (Case1)cover image

Hakone Scenic, Historical and Culture tour From Tokyo (Case1)

Hakone
11 hours 30 min

This Hakone tour is suitable for the tourists from various world wide countries who visit Hakone for the first time. I will help you to make exciting experiences which include the unbiased true stories. For example, during the Hakone tour I can explain how Hakone area in the caldera (93km2) has appeared including Ashinoko-lake, various types of Onsen/hot spring and the history of Hakone shrine.

FROM$363/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Kashima H.
Kashima H.
4.66 / 5
(73 reviews)
Kamakura tour of fantastic, historical and magnificent spotscover image

Kamakura tour of fantastic, historical and magnificent spots

Kamakura
9 hours

This tour include the "Daibutsu" the traditional Japanese craftsmanship skill applied, Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine whose deity is the founder of the Kamakura Shogun established in 12th Century, Hasedera Temple which is the Paradise of the Pure Land with beautiful flowers and the biggest wooden sculpture of Hase Kannon and Hokoji-temple by enjoying beautiful bamboo forest and powered tea.

FROM$274/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Kashima H.
Kashima H.
4.66 / 5
(73 reviews)
Tokyo tour of traditional and modern spots (case1)cover image

Tokyo tour of traditional and modern spots (case1)

Tokyo
8 hours

This tour include several essential sights such as historical spots, modern culture spots and the most advanced atmosphere experience of both graceful & sophisticated town and the most crowded amusement town. You will be impressed with the combination of Japanese traditional atmosphere with historical architecture and the most bustling area with advanced modern culture & entertainment.

FROM$255/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Kashima H.
Kashima H.
4.66 / 5
(73 reviews)
Nikko as enormous theme park of both nature and Edo culturecover image

Nikko as enormous theme park of both nature and Edo culture

Nikko
11 hours 30 min

Nikko area is one of the greatest tour spot in Japan where you can see magnificent theme park created by nature. In parallel, it is also the theme park of Edo era (1603~1867) . This tour introduces several tour spots as Chuzenji lake, Kegon fall and Kanmangafuchi Abyss from nature theme park. and Edo wonderland as entertainment theme park.

FROM$369/ per group
Japan Tour Guide - Kashima H.
Kashima H.
4.66 / 5
(73 reviews)