Monday, 10 November 2025

Castle Day! Matsumoto Castle one of the National Treasures of Japan, with the tower built in 1594.

Two ways of buying tickets, in advance with a timed entry within a 30 minute window, or just show up and hope the queue doesn’t go on for infinity. While it was a Monday morning I wasn’t taking chances and with Google’s help on the walk time I bought online and got a QR code. Also meant I kept focused during the walk.

Yes there were two ticket offices near the gate, the online tickets one was slightly longer, 1 v 3 when I showed up. Also it wasn’t clear if this timed entry meant timed getting into the grounds or timed entering the tower so it was straight to the tower too. Again two lines but a only difference was the online queue was direct at the tower while they sent the regular tickets off on a bit of a detour.

Arriving at the tower you were given a plastic bag as it was shoes off. Bit of a nuisance that it only had a handle rather than a strap but maybe I can come up with something for the next castle. I had also decided to only carry the Z8 with the 24-70mm lens on its sling as experience in Hirosaki suggested steep stairs and heavy backpack are not a good combo.

First sight of the castle is from an intersection waiting for the lights. This castle’s tower is big, unlike Hirosaki’s.

The climbing starts immediately from where you remove your shoes it’s up into the castle. The lower levels have some information about the castle and a collection of firearms. Muskets had been introduced into Japan and Matsumoto was designed to take musket fire into account.

There was a selection of firearms that were hidden or disguised as something else.

A depiction of the Battle of Nagashino in 1575.

Climbing the stairs illustrated the pros and cons on European ancestry. The pro is longer legs cope better with the stair tread height, the con is overall height doesn’t help with the beams crossing the stairs (although I managed to avoid collecting one).

There is a god (or a shrine to one) in the roof.

While it seemed that a number of people climbed to the top just so they could queue to go down again I wasn’t going to waste an opportunity to photograph out the windows. They had protective mesh but the square cut outs were just large enough to stick my camera’s lens through.

Still it was crowded in the smallish space and going down was a slow and steady affair. The stairs to the fourth level are 61 degrees and it is quite a drop to the narrow tread.

I wasn’t sure if this was people milling around or a queue, it eventually formed into one as the staff member regulating access to the stairs held people wanting to go down. I was patrolling the area near the windows looking at the various views.

The Lord’s living space had some screens marking it as the most important place in the tower.

Looking out to where the residence used to be before it burned down in 1727.

It’s tall, especially when you stand in front and look up.

This guy could really snap his fan open, I wonder if he breaks many? It made a very impressive sound.

After this I went on a quest for shots of the tower with foliage.

Going back out the gates a little girl in a kimono arrived with her family to feed the fish (with actual fish food).

I also discovered the position of one of the YouTube cameras that provides the webcam footage snuggled in a small garden plot. There was also a flower show and these bonsai looked attractive, and I think one won a prize.

They were working on earthquake proofing one of the gates and I found the English charmingly direct.

I found a craft brewery this evening and had a nice stout before a 
dégustation like dinner.

Off to Kanazawa tomorrow with a little detour in the mountains.