This wooded corner behind the keep feels like the most peaceful place in the castle. Its name, Yamazato, means "mountain village": Hideyoshi wanted a rustic-style garden here, with pavilions for the tea ceremony. But it is also where his dynasty came to an end.

1June 1615

When Hideyoshi died in 1598, his son Hideyori was only a child. Tokugawa Ieyasu seized power and, fifteen years later, decided to finish off the Toyotomi. After two campaigns, the castle fell in early summer 1615 and went up in flames. According to the chronicles, Hideyori, then barely in his twenties, his mother Yodo-dono and their last loyal followers took refuge in a storehouse in this enclosure. They hoped that Hideyori's wife, Senhime, a granddaughter of Ieyasu, could win them a pardon. It never came. On the 8th day of the fifth lunar month, 4 June 1615, they took their own lives.

A popular song said to date from those years claimed Hideyori had escaped to Kagoshima; it has never been proven.

Because their bodies were never identified with certainty, survival legends grew up that still circulate today.

2Another wound

In August 1945, the bombing of the neighboring military arsenal also hit the castle. Machine-gun marks can still be seen on these walls.

3What to look for

  • The memorial stone marking where Hideyori and Yodo-dono died.
  • The bullet scars on the stone wall.
  • The Gokurakubashi bridge, with the best rear view of the keep.
Gokurakubashi Bridge over the north moat, with the keep behind
Gokurakubashi Bridge gives a view of the keep's north face.

Documented

Toyotomi Hideyori and Yodo-dono died at Osaka Castle on the 8th day of the fifth month of Keichō 20 (4 June 1615), when it fell to the Tokugawa.

Oral tradition

Hideyori's escape to Kagoshima and other survival legends are popular tales with no documentary evidence.

Sources and credits

Osaka Castle Museum (Osakajo Tenshukaku); Stephen Turnbull, "Osaka 1615: The Last Battle of the Samurai" (Osprey, 2006); Japanese Wikipedia, "大坂の陣".

Photos:

  • Path between the high stone walls of Yamazato-maru: そらみみ (Soramimi), CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Gokurakubashi Bridge over the north moat, with the keep behind: Sakai Yayoi, CC0.

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