Momoyama

A wakizashi dated 1586 by Horikawa Kunihiro, the smith later called the founder of Japan's new sword era. An early work, now an Important Cultural Property in Osaka.

In an Osaka museum, this pair of Momoyama folding screens paints Europeans arriving by ship and Christian worship on gold leaf. It opens only in May and November.

The Main Hall of Katano Shrine in Hirakata, Osaka is an Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1602 by Toyotomi Hideyori. Designated as the spiritual guardian of Osaka Castle's demon gate, this Momoyama-period masterpiece features vermilion lacquer, vivid polychrome decorations, and exquisite kaerumata carvings on all four sides.

Rising behind the main hall of a small temple in central Osaka, the Shomanin Pagoda — popularly known as the Aizendo Tahoto — was rebuilt in 1597 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and stands as one of the finest Momoyama-era two-tiered pagodas in Japan. At roughly 22.4 meters tall, it is the oldest surviving wooden building within the city of Osaka and a designated Important Cultural Property. Highlights include the twelve zodiac animals carved into its frog-leg struts and the three-dimensional Diamond Realm mandala painted across its interior, which is opened to the public only during the Aizen Festival (June 30 to July 2).

The Main Hall of Chinju Tenmangu at Sofukuji Temple in Izumisano City, Osaka, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property. Despite its remarkably small scale—with a beam span of just 60 cm—this Momoyama-period shrine showcases exquisite Kasuga-zukuri architecture with a cypress bark roof, preserving over 500 years of Tenjin worship and the medieval Hinenosho estate heritage.

The Main Hall of Yasaka Shrine in Ikeda City, Osaka, is a Momoyama-period shrine building reconstructed in 1610 at a shrine originally founded in 978 CE. Designated as a nationally Important Cultural Property in 1971, it is valued for its ornate kaerumata and kibana carvings that exemplify the decorative exuberance of the Momoyama era, making it one of the rarest surviving structures of this period in the Osaka region.

Discover the Shino Tea Bowl, Named "Hirosawa," an Important Cultural Property of Japan housed at the Yuki Museum of Art in Osaka. A Momoyama-period masterpiece from the Mino kilns, this half-cylindrical chawan features creamy white feldspar glaze, soft fire-color flush, and faintly emerging iron-pigment designs. Ranked among the finest Shino tea bowls alongside the National Treasure "Unohana-gaki" and "Hagoromo," it embodies the very spirit of wabi tea aesthetics.

Discover the Important Cultural Property held at Osaka Castle Museum: Toyotomi Hideyoshi's autograph death poem ('Like dew I fall, like dew I vanish — all the affairs of Naniwa are but a dream within a dream'), ten blood-oath pledges in which Maeda Toshiie and other senior retainers swore loyalty to the young heir Hideyori on sacred Kumano talismans, and the vermilion-sealed orders that launched the second invasion of Korea in 1597. Designated in 2020, these thirteen documents offer an intimate window into the final years of the Toyotomi regime — with full historical background and visitor information for the Osaka Castle donjon.