大坂城の二の丸を囲う水堀のうち、南側の部分を南外堀と呼んでいます。
大手口と玉造口をむすぶ堀で、総延長は約2km、堀の最大幅は約75ｍもあります。
大手門そばからは戊辰戦争や大阪大空襲での焼失をまぬがれた六番櫓が見えています。
南外堀（みなみそとぼり）
大阪城二の丸の南に位置する堀で、西が大手口、東が玉造口である。石垣の総延長は約2キロメートル、堀の最大幅は約75メートルあり、寛永5年（1628）、徳川幕府による大坂城再築第3期工事により、豊臣時代大坂城の堀跡に改めて石垣が築造された。幕府の命令によって動員された大名は肥前佐賀藩鍋島家・加賀金沢藩前田家・因幡鳥取藩池田家・筑前福岡藩黒田家など57家。内側の石垣上には東から一番櫓から七番櫓まで七棟の隅櫓が建造された。櫓は明治維新の大火により四番・五番・七番を失い、さらに第二次大戦の空襲により二番・三番を失って、現在は一番櫓と六番櫓だけが残る。South Outer Moat
This moat is located to the south of the Ni-no-maru (Outer Bailey) of Osaka Castle, with the Ote-guchi Entrance situated to its west and the Tamatsukuri-guchi Entrance to its east. The lenght of the stone walls is about 2km in total, and the maximum width of the moat is about 75m. As part of the third-phase of the reconstruction of Osaka Castle launched by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1628, the stone walls were built on the site where a moat of Osaka Castle had been located in the Toyotomi period. The Tokugawa shogunate ordered 57 feudal lords, including the Nabeshima Family of Saga in Hizen province, the Maeda Family of Kanazawa in Kaga, the Ikeda Family of Tottori in Inaba, and the Kuroda Family of Fukuoka in Chikuzen, to particpate in the reconstruction work. Atop the inner stone walls, seven corner turrets were built, out of which the fourth, fifth and seventh turrets were burnt down during the Meiji Restoration, and the second and third turrets were lost in air raids during World War II: as a result, only the first and sixth turrets (Ichiban-yagura and Rokuban-yagura) remain today.
