To help provide that contrast in full, on this trip I stopped by Osaka on the way, ostensibly to visit the castle there, but also to enjoy the local cuisine. Osaka Castle, originally built by none other than Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself in 1582, is at the complete opposite end of the developmental spectrum for Japanese castle design and construction. All the more so as the current version of the castle includes upgrades ordered by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1620 after Ieyasu ruined Hideyoshi’s creation with cannon during a famous siege in 1615. Thus, Osaka Castle is the epitome of the finished, fully developed, Japanese Castle … and its incredible!