Visiting Osaka Castle Park/Carlos Pueblo

Visiting Osaka Castle Park/Carlos Pueblo

I have been in Osaka once, yet I have missed Osaka Castle. I was mistaken that

the Castle was destroyed when Tokugawa Ieyasu bombarded it in 1605 from

several pieces of movies. Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Fushimi Castle of Kyoto

according to his boss Oda Nobunaga’s Azuchi Castle and both were destroyed;

therefore, he built Osaka Castle following the same design and had been destroyed

twice until the city rebuilt it in 1958 with the original design on top of the same site.

On top of the Tenshukaku, the main building, there are golden tiger designs which

is very unique and impressive like a ruler’s palace. We went to visit a lovely blooming

plum  grove on the way to the Castle and another lovely blooming peach grove when

we exit from the Castle back to the JR Station.

I must admit that it is the first time that I see Japanese plum and peach blossom,

first at Kokoen Garden at Himeji and here at the groves. Both are different from

what I have had in Texas, Florida peach and Texas plum at home yard. Japanese

flowers are thicker in petals, maybe more than 10 each or more. There are at least

four kinds of colors on the grove, red, white, pink, and mixed colors in one tree. I ran

into the beginning of the season blooming at the end of winter yet was raining instead

of snowing otherwise would be amazing scenery.

There were crowded visitors at the Castle. The rain briefly stopped and we went into

the Castle following to the que up and down. It shows most of Toyotomi’s collection

and several illustration of that period, Sengoku waring state. He was the one success

to Oda Nobunaga and died without a mature son to succeed him and lost to Tokugawa

and eventually became Edo era 260 plus years. On the top of the building, there is an

observation post circle around the building to view the city and more.

A pretty girl from Amsterdam helped us to locate the station and we walked along the

park and discussed our travelling experience. I learned something about more budget

travelling. Her way is reaching Japan and utilizing the local train system and repeat it

often that I instantly agree with her. I shall do it that way on my next trip to the coastal

line of the sea of Japan because that there is not much of high speed rail available. While

she walked away toward a subway station, we walked into the peach grove of the Castle

Park. I insisted to see the blooming peach flowers under the cold rain. I admitted again

that I was not sophisticated enough to distinguish the difference between Japanese

plum from Japanese peach based on flower yet I had had a wonderful time.