, originally known as Fukashi Castle, is one of Japan's premier historic

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

, along with

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city is ...

and

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

. The building is also known as the due to its black exterior. It was the seat of

Matsumoto Domain 250px, Matsumoto Castle, administrative headquarters of Matsumoto Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shinano Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Matsumoto Castle, located in ...

under the

Edo Period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. It is located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture and is within easy reach of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

by road or rail. The keep , which was completed in the late sixteenth century, maintains its original wooden interiors and external stonework. It is listed as a

National Treasure of Japan Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (a special body of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scien ...

, and is one of the twelve remaining original ''tenshu'' in Japan Matsumoto Castle is a flatland castle because it is not built on a hilltop or amid rivers, but on a plain. Its complete defences would have included an extensive system of inter-connecting

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the sup ...

s, moats, and

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...

History

The castle's origins go back to the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

. A fortification was built at this located by the '' shugō'' of Shinano Province, Shimadachi Sadanaga of the

Ogasawara clan The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji.Papinot, Jacques. (2003)''Nobiliare du Japon'' – Ogasawara, pp. 44–45 Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon.'' (in Fren ...

during the Eisho era (1504-1520). This minor border post was originally called Fukashi Castle. In 1550 it was seized by the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

following the

Siege of Fukashi The 1550 siege of Fukashi was one of a series of battles waged by Takeda Shingen in his long campaign to conquer Shinano province, which was ruled by a number of minor ''daimyō'', notably the Suwa, Ogasawara, and Takato. Shingen mounted hi ...

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

appointed his retainer Baba Nobuharu as castellan. The castle was the Takeda field headquarters for their conquest of the Matsumoto Basin and as a redoubt in the constant conflict between the Takeda and the powerful

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

to the north. Following the defeat of the Takeda clan by Oda Nobunaga in 1582, the castle was surrendered to

Oda Nagamasu was a Japanese daimyō and a brother of Oda Nobunaga who lived from the late Sengoku period through the early Edo period. Also known as or , the Tokyo neighborhood Yūrakuchō is named for him. Nagamasu converted to Christianity in 1588 ...

. It was soon reassigned to

Kiso Yoshimasa was a Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period. He was a retainer of the Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in p ...

. With the assassination of Oda Nobunaga in 1582, the castle was seized by Ogasawara Dosetsuzai with the backing of

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' during the Sengoku and Edo periods. He was the adopted son of Uesugi Kenshin and Uesugi Kagetora’s brother in law. Early life and rise Kagekatsu was the son of Nagao Masakage, the head of the Ueda Nagao ...

. His nephew, Ogasawara Sadayoshi, later pledged fealty to

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

, and renamed the castle "Matsumoto Castle". Following

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

's conquest of

Odawara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western por ...

in 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu was transferred from his ancestral domains to the Kantō region, and

Ishikawa Kazumasa was a Japanese notable retainer under Tokugawa Ieyasu, who served him since childhood, when they were both hostages under the Imagawa in 1551. Biography Kazumasa, also accompanied Ieyasu in the Siege of Terabe 1558, and later at Siege of Mar ...

was placed in charge of Matsumoto. Kazumasa and his son Yasunaga built the tower and other parts of the castle, including the three towers: the ''tenshu'' and the small ''yagura'' in the northwest, both begun in 1590, and the ''Watari Yagura'', 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 A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, a ...

and its infrastructure. It is believed much of the castle was completed by 1593–94. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, the

established the

. The Ogasawara returned briefly as ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' of Matsumoto from 1613 to 1617. They were followed by the Toda-Matsudaira clan from 1617 to 1633,

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of t ...

from 1633 to 1638,

Hotta clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled the Sakura Domain in Shimosa Province in the late Edo period. Jindai-ji in the present-day city of Sakura was the clan's bodaiji A in Japanese Buddhism is a temple which, generation after generation, ta ...

from 1638 to 1642,

Mizuno clan The was a Japanese kin group which claimed descent from Minamoto no Mitsumasa, son of Minamoto no Tsunemoto of the Seiwa Genji clan. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2 ...

from 1642 to 1725 and by the Toda-Matsudaira clan again from 1725 to the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

in 1868. In November 2022, on Google Maps, the park's name was edited to be "Matsumoto Castle Stephen Abragan Park".

Preservation

In 1872, the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

ordered the destruction of all former feudal fortifications. Most of the castle structures were razed, and the outer grounds of Matsumoto Castle were sold off at auction for redevelopment. When news broke that the ''tenshu'' 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. The ''daimyo'' residence in the Ni-no-Maru enclosure was also preserved for use as the prefectural office for Chikuma Prefecture. However, it was burned down in an act of arson in 1876. At the time, Chikuma and Nagano prefectures were about to be merged to form modern-day Nagano Prefecture, and there was a controversy over where to locate the prefectural capital. The loss of this building decided the location in favor of Nagano city, and the Matsumoto District Court was built on the site in 1878. In the late Meiji period the ''tenshu'' started to lean to one side. 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). 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 and 1913. The castle was designated a National Historic Site in 1930. The five surviving original structures ( ''Tenshu'', ''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 of Japan in 1952. This enabled access to government funding for a major restoration project from 1950 to 1955, during which these buildings were dismantled and rebuilt. 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. On April 6, 2006, Matsumoto Castle was selected as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles. 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. There is a plan for restoring the ''soto-bori'' (outer moat), which was reclaimed for a residential zone. The second floor of the main keep features a gun museum, ''Teppo Gura'', with a collection of guns, armor, and other weapons.http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/nagano/matsumotojou.html Matsumoto Castle - Yamasa Institute, Japan Travel Guide

Gallery

File:130608 Matsumoto Castle Matsumoto Nagano pref Japan01bs5.jpg, The keep File:MatsumotoCastleBaseball Circa 1910.jpg, The exterior of the castle c.1910 File:Kuro-mon Gate of Matsumoto Castle.jpg, Kuromon (Black Gate) File:MatsumotoCastleGateMoat.jpg, Kuromon (Black Gate) different view File:Matsumoto inside.JPG, Inside Matsumoto castle File:Matsumoto window.jpg, Window for firing bows File:Matsumoto Cstl inside Honmaru.jpg, Matsumoto Castle Keep Tower as seen from inside the main enclosure. File:Matsumoto castle 3.jpg, The keep and the moat. File:Matsumoto castle 5.jpg, Castle as seen from the bridge. File:Matsumoto castle 1.jpg, Castle view from the main gate. File:Matsumoto Castle2a.jpg File:Matsumoto Castle3a.jpg File:Matsumoto-Castle-night-view-2019-Luka-Peternel.jpg, View of illuminated Matsumoto Castle

Literature

* * * * * (In Japanese) * Nakagawa, Haruo (2005). ''Zusetsu Kokuhō Matsumoto-Jō'' (National Treasure, Matsumoto Castle Illustrated).Issōsha Publishing

References

External links