Matsumoto Castle

Matsumoto 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 was originally called Fukashi Castle. In 1550 it came under the rule of the Takeda clan and then Tokugawa Ieyasu.

At the time there was already a marketplace on the east side of the secondary citadel, but the area to the west consisted entirely of swampland. Full scale construction of the structure we can now see began in the 1580’s, only Inuyama Castle is older. The Ishikawa family became the daimyo of the area serving Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and it was the Ishikawa’s who promoted and carried out the development of the castle town. The main donjon that dominates the castle was constructed between 1593 and 1594 by Lord Yasunaga, the second daimyo provided by the Ishikawa family.

Ishikawa Norimasa 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 were also instrumental in laying out the castle town and its infrastructure. It is believed much of Matsumoto 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 daimyo.

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 daimyo 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.In 1872, following the Meiji Restoration, the site, like many former daimyos’ castles, was sold at auction for redevelopment. However, when news broke that the keep was going to be demolished, 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.

In the late Meiji period the keep started to lean to one side. Old pictures clearly shows how the keep looked like then. It was because of neglect coupled with a structural defect, but a lot of people believed the story of Tada Kasuke’s curse.The castle underwent “the great Meiji renovation” between 1903-1913. 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. It underwent another renovation “the great Shōwa renovation” in the period 1950-1955. In 1990, the Kuromon-Ninomon (second gate of the Black Gate) and sodebei (side wall) were reconstructed. The square drum gate was reconstructed in 1999. These civic efforts have kept Japan’s oldest castle up to date and very popular with tourists from around the world.