東大番頭小屋跡（衛戌監獄跡）
江戸時代（1603-1867）、大阪城は江戸（現在の東京）にいる将軍直属の大番と呼ばれる旗本で編成された12組の部隊によって守られていた。大阪城は12組の中の2組が1年交代で本丸の警護についていた。大番は城の南側外郭に大番小屋（兵舎）を構えていたが、東大番の大番頭の住宅はここにあった。彼の50人の精鋭武士とその家来200人は近くの小屋に住んでいた。1868年に勃発した戊辰戦争（1868-1869）で城が一時的に放棄され、周囲の城下町から略奪者が殺到し、大番小屋は焼失した。
ここには軍事刑務所が1939年まであった。1931年に軍の兵士たちに共産主義文学を配った罪で軍法会議にかけられた川柳作家の鶴彬（1908-1938）は、ここの囚人の一人であった。彼は別の刑務所で服役中の1938年に赤痢で亡くなった。彼は俳句に似て遊び心があり、世を風刺する川柳に優れていた。彼の川柳の1つが刻まれた句碑が記念碑として近くに建てられた。
Akatsuki wo 暁を
idaite yami ni いだいて闇に
wiru tsubomi ゐる蕾
Site of Higashi-Ōbangashira Quarters and Barracks
During the Edo period (1603–1867), Osaka Castle was guarded by 12 special units of samurai, called ōban, who reported directly to the shogunate in Edo (now Tokyo). Two of these units were stationed at the castle in rotating deployments that lasted a year. The ōban had their barracks in the southern part of the castle’s outer bailey, while the living quarters for the captain (ōbangashira) of the eastern ōban, were located here. The ōbangashira’s 50 elite warriors and their subordinates, comprising some 200 men in total, lived in a nearby complex of residential buildings. The ōban residences burned down in 1868 when the castle was briefly abandoned during the outbreak of the Boshin War (1868–1869) and looters from the surrounding castle town flooded the compound.
A military prison later occupied this site until 1939. Akira Tsuru (1908–1938), a poet who was court-martialed in 1931 for distributing communist literature to members of his army unit, was one of the inmates here. Tsuru, who died of dysentery while serving another prison sentence in 1938, specialized in satirical senryū, a form of short, playful poems similar to haiku. A poem stone bearing one of his works has been erected nearby as a memorial:
Akatsuki wo Clutching the dawn
idaite yami ni the flower bud holds fast
wiru tsubomi against the darkness
