Hokoku Shrine

Hokoku Shrine (Toyokuni Shrine) is a Shinto shrine in Chuo Ward, Osaka City, enshrining Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Toyotomi Hideyori, and Toyotomi Hidenaga as deities of success and good fortune. Located within Osaka Castle Park, it is known as a branch shrine of Toyokuni Shrine in Kyoto—where the reading is commonly “Toyokuni,” while Osaka’s is commonly read “Hokoku.” In 1599, Toyokuni Shrine was built on the summit of Amidagamine in Kyoto to enshrine Toyokuni Daimyojin. The origins of Osaka’s Hokoku Shrine are said to date to the first year of the Meiji era, when Emperor Meiji, during a visit to Osaka, ordered that Toyotomi Hideyoshi be enshrined here. At the time, Osaka Castle was under the jurisdiction of the Army Ministry, so a shrine could not be built in the castle grounds. As a result, a shrine building was constructed in 1879 at Yamazaki-no-hana in Nakanoshima, and in 1961 it was transferred back to the current location. In 1972, the garden “Hidesekitei” was created at the shrine by landscape designer Mirei Shigemori. Known as a “7-5-3” garden, it is composed, in order, of stone groupings arranged as three sets, five sets, and seven sets.