Matsumoto Castle

The keep complex of Matsumoto Castle consists of five linked structures: the Main Keep, the Inui Small Keep, the connecting turret, the Tatsumi Attached Turret and the Moon-Viewing Turret. The Main Keep and Inui Small Keep are joined by the connecting turret, and the Tatsumi and Moon-Viewing turrets are added to this, forming what is called a linked complex type. It is a National Treasure, and of the twelve surviving keeps it is considered the oldest in Japan with five roofs and six stories.

The point of interest is that buildings of different character stand together in one complex. According to the official site, the Main Keep, Inui Small Keep and connecting turret were built at the end of the Sengoku period with the role of keeping watch on Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Kanto region. These three have 115 gun and arrow loopholes and 11 stone-drop openings, and the keep walls on the first and second floors are about 29 centimeters thick. The Tatsumi Attached Turret and Moon-Viewing Turret, by contrast, are thought to be from the peaceful early Edo period and have almost no defensive features. The Moon-Viewing Turret has been described as built in the style of a palace hall. Tradition says the two were added by Matsudaira Naomasa, who entered the domain in the Kan'ei era.

The castle was built on flat ground in a basin 590 meters above sea level, surrounded by three concentric water moats, earthen ramparts and stone walls. Because the ground is soft, sixteen hemlock logs were set in a grid inside the keep's stone base, where they carried the weight of the roughly 1,000-ton Main Keep evenly into the ground. In the Showa-era major repairs, the keep's foundation was replaced with reinforced concrete. The base walls are of nozura-zumi, stacked from unworked natural stones, with a gentle slope. The eaves use tekisui roof tiles whose eaves-facing ends form an inverted triangle.

The castle's predecessor is said to be Fukashi Castle, which Takeda Shingen made his base in 1550 after driving out Ogasawara Nagatoki. Takeda rule lasted 32 years, and Ogasawara Sadayoshi later renamed Fukashi as Matsumoto. Ishikawa Kazumasa, who became lord in 1590, had been a senior retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu before leaving for Osaka with his family in 1585 to serve Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His son Yasunaga carried on the work, building the keep, widening the outer moat and constructing the Kuro-mon and Taiko-mon gates. Yasunaga's domain was confiscated in 1613.

After the Meiji Restoration the keep faced demolition, like other castles. It escaped that fate, but was poorly maintained and its tiles and walls deteriorated. Kobayashi Unari, principal of Matsumoto Middle School, was troubled by this, appealed to the townspeople and formed a preservation society. Repairs ran from 1903 to 1913, with about 80 percent of the cost covered by donations. The Showa-era great repair of 1950 to 1955 then took the keep completely apart and removed the Meiji alterations, restoring its Edo-period form. It was redesignated a National Treasure in 1952. Besides the keep, the official site also lists the Kuro-mon and Taiko-mon gates and the sites of the Honmaru and Ninomaru palaces among the things to see.