In front of you is the Otemon, the main gate of Osaka Castle and one of its oldest buildings. What you see is not the work of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who built the first castle from 1583, but of his enemies.

1A castle on top of a castle

In 1615 Tokugawa Ieyasu's army captured and burned the Toyotomi stronghold. Five years later, the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada ordered it rebuilt, and he did not do things by halves: dozens of feudal lords supplied men and stone, the ground was raised several meters above the old level and new walls went up. Hideyoshi's castle was literally buried. This gate was built in 1628, as part of that huge project.

2A gate that has endured

It is a kōraimon-style gate: besides the main roof, it has two small side roofs that protected the open doors from the rain. It has survived lightning, fires and wars. The long turret behind it, the Tamon-yagura, burned after a lightning strike in 1783 and was rebuilt in 1848. Both are now Important Cultural Properties.

The support posts rotted at the base, so the carpenters replaced only the damaged section, fitting in new wood without nails.

One of those joints is so intricate that, at first glance, it looks impossible to assemble.

3What to look for

  • The rear posts: find the timber joint at their base, especially on the left-hand post as seen from outside.
  • The square courtyard behind the gate, a trap designed to slow attackers down.
  • The enormous stones set into the courtyard walls.
Timber joint at the base of an Ōtemon pillar
The new wood was fitted into the old pillar without nails.

Documented

The Otemon was built in 1628 during the Tokugawa reconstruction and is an Important Cultural Property; the Tamon-yagura beside it burned in 1783 and was rebuilt in 1848.

Sources and credits

Japan Tourism Agency, multilingual explanatory text database (entry "大手門"); Osaka Castle Museum (Osakajo Tenshukaku); Japanese Wikipedia, "大坂城".

Photos:

  • The Ōtemon gate of Osaka Castle, dark timber between stone walls: Markus Leupold-Löwenthal, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • Timber joint at the base of an Ōtemon pillar: hslo, CC BY-SA 2.0.

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