Matsumoto Castle (松本城, Matsumoto-jō?) is one of Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters which make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which's finest historic castles Japanese castles were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most well-known form in the 16th century. Like European castles, the castles of Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such as ports, river crossings, or crossroads, and almost. It is located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture Nagano Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano and is within easy reach of Tokyo Tokyo , officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to?), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totalling over 8 million people by road or rail.

The keep Japanese castles were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most well-known form in the 16th century. Like European castles, the castles of Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such as ports, river crossings, or crossroads, and almost or tenshukaku, which was completed in the late 16th century, maintains its original wooden interiors and external stonework. It is listed as a National Treasure of 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 walls A defensive wall is a fortification used to defend a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China, Hadrian's Wall, and the metaphorical Atlantic Wall,, moats A moat is deep, broad trench, usually filled with water, that surrounds a structure, installation, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defense and gatehouses A gatehouse is a feature of European castles, manor houses and mansions. Originally a gatehouse was a fortified structure built over the gateway to a city or castle. In architectural terminology, a gatehouse is a building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, or similar buildings of importance.

Contents

Preservation

In 1872, following the Meiji Restoration The Meiji Restoration , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure. It occurred in the latter half of the 19th century, a period that spans both the late Edo period (often called Late Tokugawa shogunate) and the beginning of the Meiji Era, the site, like many former daimyos Daimyo ( daimyō (help·info)) is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings. In the term, "dai" literally means "large," and "myō" stands for myōden (名田), meaning private land' castles, was sold at auction An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the higest bidder. In economic theory, an auction may refer to any mechanism or set of trading rules for exchange 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 due to neglect coupled with a structural defect. But rumour said that it was because of the curse Tada Kasuke had put on (more than two hundred years before) with his last breath on the execution pole. A local high school principal, Kobayashi Yūya, decided to renovate the castle and appealed for funds. The castle underwent "the great Meiji renovation"(1903-1913) thanks to Kobayashi and others. Half a century later, it underwent another renovation "the great Shōwa renovation"(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.

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

History

The castle's origins go back to the Sengoku period The Warring States period was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict in Japan that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. At that time Shimadachi Sadanaga of the Ogasawara clan built a fort Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere ("to make") on this site in 1504 which was originally called Fukashi Castle. In 1550 it came under the rule of the Takeda clan The Takeda was a famous clan of daimyō (feudal lords) in Japan's late Heian Period to Sengoku period and then Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but remained in power until his death in 1616. His given name is sometimes.

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a Sengoku period daimyo who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the restriction that only members of the samurai transferred Ieyasu to the Kantō region The Kantō region is a geographical area of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. The region encompasses seven prefectures which overlaps the Greater Tokyo Area: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain. The rest consists of the hills and, he placed Ishikawa Norimasa in charge of Matsumoto. 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 the castle was completed by 1593–94.

During the Edo period The Edo period , or Tokugawa period (徳川時代, Tokugawa jidai?), is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration,, the Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu and the Edo bakufu (江戸幕府?), was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which now is called Tokyo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from established the Matsumoto Domain, of which the Matsudaira The Matsudaira clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. It first originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). Over the course of its history, the clan produced many branches, most of which also centered around Mikawa Province. In the 16th century,, Mizuno and others were the daimyo Daimyo ( daimyō (help·info)) is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings. In the term, "dai" literally means "large," and "myō" stands for myōden (名田), meaning private land.

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 Daimyo ( daimyō (help·info)) is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings. In the term, "dai" literally means "large," and "myō" stands for myōden (名田), meaning private land 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 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.

Gallery

The keep.

Kuro-mon Gate

Taiko-mon Gate

The keep leans to a side.

See also

Literature

External links

Coordinates A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates, using mainly a spherical coordinate system: 36°14′20″N 137°58′09″E / 36.23889°N 137.96917°E

Categories: Castles in Japan | National Treasures of Japan

 

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