The Reputation of
Toyotomi's Osaka Castle

Picture depicting Azuchi Castle Shortly after Toyotomi Hideyoshi began construction of the hommaru (inner bailey) of Osaka Castle, Jesuit missionary Luis Frois recorded public opinion that the castle and its environs were "two or three times larger and more magnificent than what Nobunaga had built on Mt. Azuchi". Later, while the ninomaru (outer bailey) was under construction, Frois wrote that Osaka Castle's "palace, towers (the castle tower and turrets), walls, tatami rooms, gardens, and all else" were "several times superior" to Oda Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle.
According to Frois, Hideyoshi had a clear intention to "surpass in every respect what Nobunaga had built on Mt. Azuchi". To the people of the time, Azuchi Castle was the greatest castle in Japan. Hideyoshi set forth a goal to surpass Azuchi Castle, and Osaka Castle was the result of realizing this. Stone walls of Azuchi Castle, photograph
by Oka Yasuyuki Even in the Jesuit records from the time of Hideyoshi's death, Osaka Castle was still considered the "largest and strongest in Japan, and a truly magnificent castle". At the beginning of the Winter Siege of Osaka, Richard Cocks, head of the British trading post in Hirado, described Osaka Castle as "the strongest in Japan".