On a beautiful morning, we took the train from Kiso-Fukushima to the cozy city of Matsumoto. After arriving, we got lunch together. We had a free day which allowed us to explore the city at our own peace. Matsumoto is a residential city that, in my perspective, seemed like a place that captured the life of modern Japanese cities. The streets were pretty spacious with colorful flowers lining the sidewalk.
The city is well known for Matsumoto Castle that is considered one of the five national treasures of Japan. The castle dates back to 1594 which makes it 425 years old. It’s older than the formation of the USA! Six different lords were in charge of the castle over time. Each lord had a different stamp. The different stamps are seen in the picture below.
The finest details in the structure of the castle served different kinds of defense purposes. There were one hundred and fifty small squares and rectangles on the walls. Nowadays, people might think of it as a mere decoration. However, to the protectors of this castle, the square holes were for shooting the enemies with rifles while the rectangular holes are for shooting the enemy with arrows. Well, what if the enemy tried to climb the walls and sneak into the castle? That was not a problem for the smart Japanese samurais. The solution is easy. They’ll throw rocks at the enemy from a hidden gap under the window. That is different from the European tactics as they poured boiling oil on their enemies that climbed the wall. Oil was expensive in Japan. Thus, they used rocks instead.
This castle was used for defense and protection purposes only. It doesn’t have any restrooms or kitchens. People lived in the palace that, unfortunately, burned down. Although the castle was very close to the palace, it didn’t catch any fire. According to the Japanese legend, the shrine built on the roof protected it from burning. On the night of January 26, 1618, a beautiful lady showed up in a white kimono and told the samurai to build a shrine in the ceiling of the 7th floor for good luck and protection then she disappeared. The next morning the samurai told the lord about what the lady said. The lord took that seriously and built a small shrine in the ceiling . People believed that the castle was protected from the fire due to the small shrine it had in the roof.
After the tour in the castle, I walked out to the beautiful castle grounds imagining the people that once lived there. In the past, the castle was taller than the other buildings in town. Hence, the whole town can be seen from castle. However, now the tall modern buildings block people from viewing the whole town.
Visiting this castle was a journey in time. It’s amazing to see how things changed in a long period. Matsumoto castle is one of the best places I’ve been to in Japan.
Thank you for reading!
Maram Almutairi
Biology major, Pre-Med
Japan Lived Experience 2019 