Matsumoto Castle

Matsumoto Castle in winter

The castle's origins go back to the Sengoku period. At that time Shimadachi Sadanaga of the Ogasawara clan built a fort on this site in 1504, which originally was called Fukashi Castle. In 1550 it was seized by the Takeda clan following the Siege of Fukashi, and later came under the rule of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi transferred Ieyasu to the Kantō region, he placed Ishikawa Kazumasa in charge of Matsumoto. Kazumasa and his son Yasunaga built the tower and other parts of the castle, including the three towers: the keep and the small tower in the northwest, both begun in 1590, and the Watari Tower; the residence; the drum gate; the black gate, the Tsukimi Yagura, the moat, the innermost bailey, the second bailey, the third bailey, and the sub-floors in the castle, much as they are today. They also were instrumental in laying out the castle town and its infrastructure. It is believed much of the castle was completed by 1593–94.

During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate established the Matsumoto Domain, of which the Matsudaira, Mizuno, and others were the daimyōs.

For the next 280 years until the abolition of the feudal system in the Meiji Restoration, the castle was ruled by the 23 lords of Matsumoto representing six different daimyō families. In this period the stronghold was also known as Crow Castle (烏城, Karasu-jo) because its black walls and roofs looked like spreading wings.

The keep, leaning, prior to 1904

In 1872, following the Meiji Restoration, the site, along with many former daimyōs' castles, was sold at auction for redevelopment.[1] When news broke that the keep was going to be demolished, however, an influential figure from Matsumoto, Ichikawa Ryōzō, along with residents from Matsumoto, started a campaign to save the building. Their efforts were rewarded when the tower was acquired by the city government.[2]

In the late Meiji period the keep started to lean to one side. An old picture (seen at right) clearly shows how the keep looked then. It was because of neglect coupled with a structural defect, but many people believed the tower leaned due to the curse of Tada Kasuke. He had been caught and executed for attempting to appeal unfair tax laws (Jōkyō uprising).[3]

A local high school principal, Kobayashi Unari, decided to renovate the castle and appealed for funds. The castle underwent "the great Meiji renovation" between 1903-1913. It underwent another renovation "the great Shōwa renovation" during the period 1950-1955.

In 1952 the keep, Inui-ko-tenshu (small northern tower), Watari-yagura (roofed passage), Tatsumi-tsuke-yagura (southern wing), and Tsukimi-yagura (moon-viewing room) were designated as national treasures.

In 1990, the Kuromon-Ninomon (second gate of the Black Gate) and sodebei (side wall) were reconstructed. The square drum gate was reconstructed in 2002.

Matsumoto Castle was damaged in a 5.4 magnitude earthquake on June 30, 2011. The quake caused approximately ten cracks in the inner wall of the main tower.[4]

There is a plan for restoring the soto-bori (outer moat), which was reclaimed for a residential zone.[5]

The second floor of the main keep features a gun museum, Teppo Gura, with a collection of guns, armor, and other weapons.[6]

• 
  The keep
• 
  The exterior of the castle c.1910
• 
  Kuromon (Black Gate)
• 
  Taikomon (Drum Gate)
• 
  Inside Matsumoto castle
• 
  Window for firing bows
• 
  Matsumoto Castle Keep Tower as seen from inside the main enclosure.
• 
  The keep and the moat.
• 
  Castle as seen from the bridge.
• 
  Castle view from the main gate.
• 
• 
• 
  View of illuminated Matsumoto Castle

• List of National Treasures of Japan (castles)
• Tourism in Japan

• Benesch, Oleg and Ran Zwigenberg (2019). Japan's Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 375. ISBN 9781108481946.
• Mitchelhill, Jennifer (2013). Castles of the Samurai:Power & Beauty. USA: Kodansha. ISBN 978-1568365121.
• Schmorleitz, Morton S. (1974). Castles in Japan. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4.
• Motoo, Hinago (1986). Japanese Castles. Tokyo: Kodansha. pp. 200 pages. ISBN 0-87011-766-1.

(In Japanese)

• Nakagawa, Haruo (2005). Zusetsu Kokuhō Matsumoto-Jō (National Treasure, Matsumoto Castle Illustrated).Issōsha Publishing

Media related to Matsumoto Castle at Wikimedia Commons

• Matsumoto Castle Welcome Guide
• Matsumoto Castle English Guide
• Nagano Official Tourism Website - Matsumoto Castle
• - Interactive 3-D Matsumoto Castle by Professor Jon Amakawa of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
• Photography of Matsumoto Castle from Heso magazine