Hōkoku Shrine in Osaka Castle Park

Built by Meiji Emperor honoring Toyotomi Hideyoshi

By Takako Sakamoto

Community writer

Huge version of Ema (wooden votive tablet). It says "career success and good luck". People come here to wish for good luck and success in their careers because Toyotomi Hideyoshi became a king of Japan from the original position of peasant!

Stone lantern standing at the entrance of Hōkoku Shrine

The entrance of Hōkoku Shrine inside the Osaka Castle Park

Torii Gate at the front entrance of Hōkoku Shrine. Usually, there is signage of the shrine on the torii gate, but there's none on this torii

Main hall of Hōkoku Shrine in Osaka Castle Park

Inner torii of Hōkoku Shrine in Osaka Castle Park. Here, there is no signage hanging from the torii, either

The purification basin. This is made of concrete (I knocked on it to check!)

Statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the king of Japan who built the original Osaka Castle in 1583, on the grounds of Hōkoku Shrine in Osaka

Wedding ceremonies are held in this annex building

Main hall and stairs leading to the alter. Curiously, half of the main hall is made of concrete, too!

The inner torii gate, the statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the wedding hall

Offerings of sake barrels are piled up on the outside corridor of the main hall

The back entrance to Hōkoku Shrine. It was deserted and quiet. I liked this entrance better than the busy and crowded front entrance

Back entrance of Hōkoku Shrine. Here, there's no signage on Torii, either...WHY?

Hōkoku Shrine seen from a deserted back street inside the Osaka Castle Park

When I visited Osaka Castle the other day, I had one more thing I wanted to see besides the castle itself. It was Hōkoku Shrine inside the Osaka Castle Park because I'd already visited the Toyokuni Shrine in Kyoto and both shrines were built (resurrected) by the order of the Meiji Emperor just after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and enshrine Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler of Japan who was the Tokugawa Shogunate's enemy. I find it interesting that the Tokugawa Shogunate considered Hideyoshi their strongest enemy and after his death destroyed everything related to him, including Osaka Castle. Yet, as soon as the Tokugawa Shogunate was overturned by the new Meiji government which consisted of pro-Hideyoshi clans, Hideyoshi's glory was resurrected! Ironic twist of fate. This shrine was built in 1879 by the order of the Meiji Emperor in Nakanoshima, Osaka, and was moved to the current location inside the Osaka Castle Park in 1961 overlooking the Osaka Castle, the best place for Toyotomi Hideyoshi who built the original Osaka Castle a long long time ago (1583).