Osaka Castle Toyotomi Stone Wall Museum

This exhibition facility reveals the Toyotomi-period stone ramparts of Osaka Castle, buried underground by the Tokugawa clan after the Summer Siege of Osaka. It is designed to allow visitors to physically experience the castle’s layered history, transforming their perception of Osaka Castle itself and conveying its history through a deeply affecting spatial experience. Following an above-ground orientation, visitors descend underground through an immersive sequence that builds anticipation before the stone ramparts are revealed. They are intentionally withheld from visitors’ sight at first, while walls at the underground level are finished with stratified, geological textures, heightening anticipation for the encounter to come. As visitors finally come face to face with the ramparts, the space unfolds to allow viewing from multiple angles, extending both the moment of discovery and its lingering afterglow. The experience concludes in a theatre that immerses visitors in the historical narrative of the stone ramparts. The exhibition is organized as a one-way circulation, integrating architecture and storytelling into a unified journey.