Fushimi Castle Excavated Relics Exhibition Room

Highlight

Extremely rare gold leafed tile bearing the crest of a daimyo warlord

Roof tiles that speak of a castle’s magnificence

Fushimi began to prosper as a castle town when Hideyoshi Toyotomi had Fushimi Castle built and the nearby river port took off as a commercial access to Osaka.
And, though the original castle has long gone, the Gokonomiya Shrine has set up an exhibition room in its grounds to display a portion of the castle’s roof tiles discovered during field work on the castle remnants in conjunction with sewer construction work. The 100 or so tiles on display include those carrying daimyo crests and covered in gold leaf, fragments of the mighty dolphin like ridge tiles that decorated the castle, and the sophisticated tiles used to create a “turtle shell” motif. The collection came about because Gokonomiya Shrine priests had an interest and formed a castle research group back in 1973 with the aim of investigating and preserving the relics being discovered at that time. Furthermore, the shrine also features the castle’s west gate (Important Cultural Property), which was moved to the shrine long ago.