At Osaka Castle Park, where approximately 3,000 cherry blossom trees, including Somei Yoshino, were planted, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom on the 6th. The park was bustling with flower viewers, with people laying out mats under the cherry trees, lounging around, enjoying banquets, and meals. What surprised most was the large number of foreign tourists. According to statistics, the number of visitors to Osaka Castle’s main tower exceeded 2.4 million last fiscal year, so it is expected to far exceed that number this year. According to a survey conducted at the main tower, 70% of the visitors are said to be from overseas, with the staff saying, ‘It feels like even more.’ Osaka Castle, affectionately called ‘Taikō-han’s castle,’ was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi between 1583 and 1598. However, it was destroyed in the Winter and Summer Sieges of Osaka and its remains are now mostly buried. The remains of Osaka Castle that can be seen on the ground today were renovated by Hidetada Tokugawa, which is essentially equivalent to a new construction. The castle tower is a steel-framed reinforced concrete structure built in 1931, and is built on top of the castle tower stone wall that was rebuilt during the Tokugawa period.Osaka Castle, counted as one of Japan’s Three Famous Castles (the other two often cited are Nagoya Castle and Himeji Castle, sometimes Kumamoto Castle), currently retains 13 buildings including towers, gates, and storehouses built from the early to late Edo period, as well as its inner and outer moats. The beauty and intricacy of its stone walls are unparalleled among other castles.

ソメイヨシノなど約3千本の桜が植えられた大阪城公園では6日、桜が満開となりました。園内は花見客でにぎわい、桜の下にシートを敷き寝転がったり、宴会や食事を楽しんだりする人々でごった返しました。そして何よりも驚いたのは、外国人観光客の多さです。統計では、大阪城天守閣の登城者数が昨年度、240万人を超えたそうですから、今年はその数ははるかに超えているでしょう。天守閣の聞き取り調査では7割が海外からのお客だそうで、「体感ではもっと多い」と担当者が語っています。「太閤はんのお城」と親しみを込めて呼ばれる大坂城は、1583年から1598年にかけて豊臣秀吉が築きましたが、大坂冬の陣、夏の陣で消滅し、その遺構は現在ほとんど埋没しています。現在地表に見ることのできる大坂城の遺構は、徳川秀忠が実質的な新築に相当する修築を施したものです。天守閣は1931年に建てられた鉄骨鉄筋コンクリート構造で、徳川時代に再建された天守台石垣の上に建てられました。日本三名城の一つに数えられる（他の二つは名古屋城、姫路城、熊本城の内から挙げられる場合が多い）大阪城には、現在は江戸時代初期から後期にかけて建てられた櫓や門、蔵など建物13棟および内堀と外堀が現存しています。その石垣の美しさと巧緻さは他のどの城も寄せ付けないものがあります。