The Siege of Osaka: places you can still visit
In 1614 and 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu attacked Osaka Castle twice and ended the Toyotomi family. The places where it happened are still around the city: shrines, temples, hills and graves.
The ones easiest to reach lie south of the castle, between Tamatsukuri and Tennoji, and most are tied to one man: Sanada Yukimura, the Toyotomi general who nearly reached Ieyasu himself.
What happened, in short
Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in 1598. Tokugawa Ieyasu won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and became shogun, but Hideyoshi's son Hideyori and his mother Yodo-dono still held Osaka Castle. In 1614 Ieyasu used an inscription on a temple bell as his reason to attack.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1614, Nov 26 | Battles of Shigino and Imafuku, east of the castle |
| 1614, Dec 4 | The Tokugawa attack Sanada Yukimura's fort, the Sanada-maru |
| 1614, Dec 19 | Peace is agreed. The Tokugawa start filling in the castle's moats |
| 1615, Apr 29 | Battle of Kashii, the first fight of the Summer Campaign |
| 1615, May 6 | Battles of Dōmyōji, Yao and Wakae. Gotō Matabei and Kimura Shigenari are killed |
| 1615, May 7 | Battle of Tennoji. Sanada Yukimura is killed. Osaka Castle falls and burns |
| 1615, May 8 | Hideyori and Yodo-dono take their own lives. The Toyotomi family ends |
Dates are in the old Japanese calendar, as the sources give them.
Where did Hideyori die? A stone in the Yamazato-maru, north of the Main Tower, marks the place where Hideyori and Yodo-dono are said to have died. In the Edo period another story was common: that Hideyori died in the Hoshii-yagura, a rice store turret of the inner citadel, and a pine near it was called "the pine where Hideyori died". Map
Sanada Yukimura's Osaka: Tamatsukuri to Tennoji
These sites run south from the castle toward Tennoji, roughly in this order.
- Osaka Castle. The Toyotomi stronghold. Its 5th floor recreates the Summer Siege in miniature. Floor guide
- Sankō Shrine. Has the "Sanada tunnel" (Sanada no nukeana), said to lead from the Sanada-maru to the castle, and a bronze statue of Yukimura holding his command baton.
- Shingan-ji temple. The family temple of Yukimura and his son Daisuke. A stone at the entrance marks the site of his fort.
- Enju-an (Kama Hachiman). Where Yukimura is said to have prayed for victory in the Winter Campaign.
- Okachiyama. A 112-meter keyhole-shaped burial mound where the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada camped in the Winter Campaign. He is said to have held a victory party here after the Summer Campaign, which gave the hill its name: "the hill of the honorable victory".
- Yasui Shrine. Said to be where Yukimura died on May 7, 1615. It has a monument and a bronze statue of him.
- Isshin-ji temple. Grave of the Tokugawa general Honda Tadatomo, killed in the Summer Campaign, and the "mist pine" said to have hidden Ieyasu when Yukimura's troops cornered him.
- Chausuyama, in Tennoji Park. Ieyasu's camp in the Winter Campaign, and Yukimura's in the Summer Campaign.
Farther out
- Dōmyōji and Konda (Habikino, Kashiwara). Gotō Matabei and Susukida Hayato fell here on May 6, 1615. Konda Hachimangū has a battlefield monument, and Tamateyama Park has monuments to Matabei and a memorial to the dead of both sides.
- Yao and Wakae. Kimura Shigenari's grave stands in Saiwai Daiichi Park. At Jōkō-ji temple, the floorboards from a corridor where the Tokugawa side inspected enemy heads were later used as a ceiling, the "blood ceiling".
- Hirano. Legend says Yukimura set a land mine here for Ieyasu. Senkō-ji temple keeps the "head Jizō" said to have been blown there.
- Kashii (Izumisano). The opening fight of the Summer Campaign on April 29, 1615, with the graves of the Toyotomi officers Ban Dan'emon and Tannowa Shigemasa.
Questions
What was the Siege of Osaka?
The last great battle of Japan's age of war. Tokugawa Ieyasu attacked Osaka Castle, held by Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother Yodo-dono, in the Winter Campaign of 1614 and the Summer Campaign of 1615. The castle fell on May 7, 1615, and the Toyotomi family ended the next day.
Where can I see places linked to Sanada Yukimura in Osaka?
South of the castle, between Tamatsukuri and Tennoji: Sanko Shrine with his statue and the 'Sanada tunnel', Shingan-ji temple, Enju-an, Yasui Shrine where he is said to have died, Isshin-ji and Chausuyama.
Where did Sanada Yukimura die?
Yasui Shrine in Tennoji ward is said to be the place. It has a monument and a bronze statue of him.
What was the Sanada-maru?
An earthwork fort that Sanada Yukimura built south of Osaka Castle for the Winter Campaign of 1614. The Tokugawa attacked it on December 4, 1614.
Written by Kyoya Fujioka. Facts come from the Osaka Castle Museum map of places related to the Siege of Osaka (issued May 2026). We have not walked this route yet; walking times will be added after we do.