Osaka · Osaka Castle and the city center
Osaka Castle
Toyotomi Hideyoshi began building the castle in 1583, on the site where the Ishiyama Hongan-ji temple had stood, and the first keep was finished in 1585. It burned in 1615, in the campaign in which the Tokugawa wiped out the House of Toyotomi. The keep they built afterwards was struck by lightning in 1665, and for 266 years no keep stood on the site at all.
Today's keep was built in 1931 with donations from the city's residents, and it is registered as a Cultural Property. From the outside it has five stories, and inside eight: a museum on Hideyoshi and the siege of Osaka, and an observation deck on the eighth floor. The walls and moats around it remain from the castle the Tokugawa built.
Since April 2025 the ticket to the keep also includes the Toyotomi Ishigaki Museum, an underground building that opened that same month. It displays a stone wall from Hideyoshi's time, which was buried under the Tokugawa castle and uncovered in an excavation in 1984. It stands southeast of the keep.
Good to know
- The public elevator goes only up to floor 5, and only one way. To the observation deck on floor 8 you continue by stairs, and on the way down you walk the whole way.
- The ticket office line may close before 17:30, depending on crowds.
- The Toyotomi Ishigaki Museum has no toilets, and it may close without notice if the stones shift.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Osaka Castle.
- HereOsaka Castle
- ~2 min
MIRAIZA OSAKA-JO More to see
The building facing the keep was built in 1931 as the headquarters of the army's Fourth Division, and later served as the city museum. Today it has restaurants, Tully's Coffee, souvenir shops, and in the basement the Kaiyodo Figure Museum, with more than 3,000 figures, for a fee.
- ~15 min
Aqua-Liner water bus More to see
An enclosed, air-conditioned boat that leaves from the Osaka Castle pier, passes Nakanoshima and comes back, about 55 minutes. ¥2,000, children ¥1,000. You can book two months ahead.
- ~18 min
JO-TERRACE OSAKA Street
A row of restaurants and cafes just west of Osakajokoen Station, at the entrance to the park: Starbucks, Tully's, tonkatsu, takoyaki, okonomiyaki and Lawson.
- ~18 min
Takoyaki Doraku Wanaka, JO-TERRACE Food
A branch of the Osaka takoyaki chain at JO-TERRACE, with an original menu built around takoyaki.
- ~18 min
Chibo, JO-TERRACE Food
Okonomiyaki and teppanyaki from the Chibo chain, at JO-TERRACE near the station.
Appears in: Osaka in one day: the castle, Kuromon Market, Shinsekai and Dotonbori at night