Tatatsuski Castle Park

I left my home at 4:45 am to walk to the train station and get the 5:39 am train, heading west.  I had a long day ahead with many local trains to ride, so I brought along my hexagons to work on. 

My first destination was Tatatsuki Castle in Osaka Prefecture.  There wasn't a lot left to see.

Here is the history of the castle from the JCastle website: 

Stories say that a castle on this site dates back to the 9th C., but the earliest evidence of it appears in writings from 1527. In the mid 1500's it was a fortification of Akutagawasan Castle. In 1568 the castle came under the control of Oda Nobunaga when he defeated Akutagawasan Castle. Wada Koremasa became the new lord of the castle and began to further fortify the castle. Wada was killed at the Battle of Shiraikawara in 1571 and Takayama Tomoteru and hi son Ukon, the famed Christian lord, became the new lords of the castle. Ukon helped to develop a thriving castle town. In 1581, Takayama Ukon built a church within the castle grounds and invited missionaries to administer to the local people. Takayama Ukon was a devoted Christian and during his reign, there were about 18,000 Christians living in the castle town around Takatsuki Castle. The castle came under direct control of Hideyoshi in 1582 when he started construction of Osaka Castle and remained as a site for government offices under both Hideyoshi and Tokugawa until 1615 when Naito Nobumasa was made lord of the castle and the Takatsuki Domain was founded. The castle was vastly renovated into an Edo Period castle by Naito Nobumasa in 1617. After Naito, several different lords held Takatsuki Castle until Nagai Naokiyo in 1649. The Nagai ruled for 13 generations until the end of the Edo Period when it was abandoned in 1871. A special feature of Takatsuki Castle was that it was built on damp and fairly unstable land, so under the original ishigaki (stone walls), the builders had laid a carpet of pine needles on top of which were laid some logs. It was over this “insulation base” the stone walls were built. A model of this can be seen in the Shiroato History Museum. The castle stone walls and wood from buildings were repurposed to build the train line between Mukomachi and Osaka in 1874.

I read that there was a small museum, but I didn't find it. After my short visit, I headed back to the train station and on to my next stop.

If you are interested in Japanese Castles, check out my Castle Page, with links to posts on the castles I have visited.