Night at Osaka Castle Park

karena sudah lelah berjalan berkilo kilo meter dalam 3 hari terakhir, kurang cairan, kedinginan di hari pertama, anak jadi cranky dan mama became a momster. untuk menghindari kerusakan lebih lanjut, saya memutuskan untuk minum obat dan bergelung lagi di kasur. seharusnya hari itu, kamis, kami akan ke universal studio. tiket bermain sudah dibeli sejak di Indonesia. jumat mau ke Kyoto, sabtu jalan jalan di kota Osaka sebelum berpindah ke kota Toyama. saya pindah bergelung di sofa setelah menunggu kamar dibersihkan dan sarapan nasi kepal. 

tidak lama kemudian si papa dan anakku juga tidur dan dengkuran halusnya bersahut sahutan di kamar. masing masing memeluk mainan. anakku memeluk lego baru dan si papa mememluk 2 gadgetnya. hahaha ... 

setelah kira kira adzan ashar, saya sudah merasa lebih enak. tidak panas lagi. selama beberapa jam tidur dan setiap bangun minum air hangat bergelas gelas. oh ya. ada banyak aplikasi untuk moslem traveler ya. jadi memudahkan kita menemukan kiblat juga menentukan jam sholat. 

saya bangunkan mereka berdua dan melanjutkan acara yang seharusnya hari sabtu. strolling around osaka city. setelah bersiap siap, makan siang seadanya, minum susu dan madu, melapis badan dengan 5 lapis, kami keluar. 

tujuan pertama adalah osaka castle park. hampir semua castle dan temple di Jepang tutup jam 17.00 jadi di Tokyo maupun di osaka kami hanya menikmati bagian luarnya saja. tetapi bagian luar castle atau temple sangat layak dinikmati. tidak perlu kecewa. bahkan dimalam hari seperti ini, gagak gagak itu pun memeriahkan suasana.

udara dingin dan air hangat kombinasi buruk untuk jalan jalan. belum apa apa sudah nyari toilet yang ternyata da di banyak temoat di taman yang luas ini. toiletnya cantik dan dipisahkan bagian laki laki dan perempuan. tidak bayar juga. selama ini semua toilet tidak berbayar. wastafelnya ada diluar. oh ya. terang pula. tidak seperti disini, remang remang. wew.

 dari kejauhan terlihat castle menjulang dipagari tembok sangat tinggi dan tebal. diseberang pagar adalah air atau kolam. salahsatu bentuk pertahanan tentunya.

 every season has it's own beauty ya. lihat saja foto diatas. meskipun pohon pohon tidak berdaun, tetapi cantik juga dengan latar belakang lampu kota. jepang ini menggabungkan kekuatan akar budaya dengan kecanggihan teknologi masa kini dengan baik. 

setelah pemandangan ini kami masih harus berjalan bratus ratus meter lagi untuk sampai di halaman dalam castle. castle bukan satu satunya bangunan. seperti layaknya istana dimana mana. ada beberapa bangunan penunjang lain juga beberapa gerbang sebelum sampai didepan castle.

sepanjang perjalanan kami bertemu dengan banyak orang yang berolah raga. jogging dengan anjing atau sendiri ditemani ipod. tentu saya melongo. eh tapi justru karena dia jogging, badannya jadi hangat. sementara kami merasa dingin malah jalan pelan. pelan menurut ukuran mereka. menurut dengkul saya sih sudah terseok seok ini.

selain toilet, di banyak titik ada lawson, convenience store, semacam indomaret dan alfamart disini. saya menyerbu salahsatu lawson setelah rasanya lapaaaar sekali. saya ingin meminum jahe hangat atau teh hangat. bodohnya saya, jahe dan teh juga susu tidak dibawa. padahal kemasannya handy. kalau dibawa kita bisa beli air panas saja. tinggal aduk. sehat dan kenyang. 

akibatnya saya beli kopi dan anakku makan kentang goreng dan nasi kepal. satu satunya pilihan halal disitu. minum air putih saja sebab tidak ada susu. saya lupa harganya. kira kira per item 20ribuan.

 akhirnya sampai didepan castle yang bercahaya. cantik dan megah sekali. terbayang selera dan kekuasaan yang membangun pada saat itu. 

oh ya. disalahsatu bangunan, kami sempat melihat sekelompok anak anak dan orang berlatih bela diri. satu kelompok berseragam putih putih seperti seragam karate sedangkan yang lainnya hitam hitam. beberapa memegang pedang panjang itu, katana. 

berarti castle ini tidak hanya monumen bersejarah tetapi masih difungsikan juga kan. 

Osaka Castle (大坂城 or 大阪城, Ōsaka-jō^?) is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.^[1]

The main tower of Osaka Castle is situated on a plot of land roughly one square kilometer. It is built on two raised platforms of landfill supported by sheer walls of cut rock, using a technique called Burdock piling, each overlooking a moat. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and built atop a tall stone foundation to protect its occupants from attackers.
The castle grounds, which cover approximately 60,000 square meters (15 acres),^[2] contain thirteen structures that have been designated as important cultural assets by the Japanese government,^[3] including:

• Ote-mon Gate
• Sakura-mon Gate
• Ichiban-yagura Turret
• Inui-yagura Turret
• Rokuban-yagura Turret
• Sengan Turret
• Tamon Turret
• Kinmeisui Well
• Kinzo Storehouse
• Enshogura Gunpowder Magazine
• Three sections of castle wall all located around Otemon Gate

In 1583 Toyotomi Hideyoshi commenced construction on the site of the Ikkō-ikki temple of Ishiyama Hongan-ji. The basic plan was modeled after Azuchi Castle, the headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. Toyotomi wanted to build a castle that mirrored Oda's, but surpassed it in every way: the plan featured a five-story main tower, with three extra stories underground, and gold leaf on the sides of the tower to impress visitors. In 1585 the Inner donjon was completed. Toyotomi continued to extend and expand the castle, making it more and more formidable to attackers. In 1597 construction was completed and Hideyoshi died. Osaka Castle passed to his son, Toyotomi Hideyori.
In 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his opponents at the Battle of Sekigahara, and started his own bakufu (i.e., shogunate) in Edo. In 1614 Tokugawa attacked Toyotomi in the winter, starting the Siege of Osaka.^[4] Although the Toyotomi forces were outnumbered approximately two to one, they managed to fight off Tokugawa's 200,000-man army and protect the castle's outer walls. Ieyasu had the castle's outer moat filled, negating one of the castle's main outer defenses.
During the summer of 1615, Hideyori began to restore the outer moat. Tokugawa, in outrage, sent his armies to Osaka Castle again, and routed the Toyotomi men inside the outer walls on June 4. Osaka Castle fell to Tokugawa, and the Toyotomi clan perished.
In 1620, the new heir to the shogunate, Tokugawa Hidetada, began to reconstruct and re-arm Osaka Castle. He built a new elevated main tower, five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and assigned the task of constructing new walls to individual samurai clans. The walls built in the 1620s still stand today, and are made out of interlocked granite boulders without mortar. Many of the stones were brought from rock quarries near the Seto Inland Sea, and bear inscribed crests of the various families who contributed them.
In 1660, lightning ignited the gunpowder warehouse and the resulting explosion set the castle on fire. In 1665, lightning struck and burnt down the main tower. In 1843, after decades of neglect, the castle got much-needed repairs when the bakufu collected money from the people of the region to rebuild several of the turrets.
In 1868, Osaka Castle fell and was surrendered to anti-bakufu imperial loyalists. Much of the castle was burned in the civil conflicts surrounding the Meiji Restoration.
Under the Meiji government, Osaka Castle became part of the Osaka Army Arsenal (Osaka Hohei Kosho) manufacturing guns, ammunition, and explosives for Japan's rapidly expanding Western-style military.^[5]
In 1928, the main tower was restored after the mayor of Osaka concluded a highly successful fund-raising drive.
During World War II, the arsenal became one of the largest military armories, employing 60,000 workers.^[5] Bombing raids targeting the arsenal damaged the reconstructed main castle tower and, on August 14, 1945, destroyed 90% of the arsenal and killed 382 people working there.
In 1995, Osaka's government approved yet another restoration project, with the intent of restoring the main tower to its Edo-era splendor. In 1997, restoration was completed. The castle is a concrete reproduction (including elevators) of the original and the interior is intended as a modern, functioning museum.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle

 karena saya suka dengan kedalaman akar budaya suatu bangsa atau negara, saya ingin satu hari ke India, Mesir,  dan Turki. seandainya masih ada kesempatan, tentu ingin juga mengunjungi tempat tempat lain seperti kota kota kecil di Eropa.