When we left off a few days ago, I had just arrived to Matsumoto, Nagano. So, as one would expect it, I will pick up the travels there....after I give some background about Matsumoto Castle (which is specifically where we went in Matsumoto).
So according to Japan-Guide.com, Matsumoto Castle was built between 1592 and 1614. These years correspond with the end of the Sengoku Era, which was Japan's civil war period, and the beginning of the Tokugawa Period, which was the era of the Tokugawa Daimyo (dictatorship, if you will).
Now, according to the official Matsumoto website, Matsumoto Castle is the oldest castle keep in all of Japan. It is also one of four castles in Japan that has been designated as one of Japan's National Treasures. Here's a side note: Japan has a large collection of World Treasures and Landmarks designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations (aka UNESCO). Matsumoto Castle is not one of the UNESCO Landmarks, but if you are interested in seeing which Japanese sites are UNESCO landmarks, just click on this link. The link provides all the UNESCO sites in the world, but are organized by countries.
Back to Matsumoto Castle. Since Matsumoto Castle has some history in the Sengoku period, there are a lot of Sengoku Period weapons and armor on display in the castle. Yes, I said "in the castle", as in you get to climb to the top floor of the castle. Since the castle has been preserved "as is" there are barely any light fixtures, if any, so I could not get any good pics of the interior. I do believe I have some ok/ somewhat blurry photos set aside to be posted here. So, with that being said, let's dive into the photos.
So here we are walking down the street and what do my very own eyes see? Postings of family crests of those who ruled over Matsumoto during the Tokugawa Era.
And here's the castle...with a friend looking at it. :P
Can't tell that I am already in love with the castle, right?
Since this castle was a "field castle", meaning it was situated on flat ground as opposed to being on higher ground, a moat was built around it. In this said moat are koi fish. Did you know that koi fish can live upwards to 100 years? I found that out at one of the Japanese summer festivals in Orange County a few years back.
And here's the castle gate. Notice the smaller entrance to the right of the main gate. I actually don't know of the purpose for the double gates, but now the small door is used as the exit and the large gate as the entrance.
And a photo of the outer walls that are just right of the gate (if you're facing the gate from the outside, that is).
One more photo of the castle from the outside. Apparently, according to Japan-Guide.com, this building is known as a "donjon" or castle keep.
Some feathered companion. Why take a photo of them? Because I can. :D
Okay, so now we are inside the outer wall...only to find yet another set of wall and gate.
Just taking photos from inside the outer wall, so that you can get a taste of what it looks like. The focus in the photo above is just right of the inner gate, which will lead into the main grounds of the castle.
In the photo above is the corner of the outer walls. Just thought it would be interesting for you to see.
This is a close-up of the outer gate. I would said it stands about 12 or more feet in height.
Okay, so now we are looking from the side at the inner wall and gate. In the photo below, we are looking through the inner gate and into the main castle grounds.
Yet, I am still between the inner and outer walls, waiting for friends to shuffle in. So, to kill the time, I am looking at this sign. Do I read it? No...But the illustration of the castle grounds and town is really cool!
My friends and I are inching closer and closer to the castle grounds, but to no avail! We still have to wait for the others so that we can grab a group photo (which, again, I do not have).
Inside the inner gateway is a placard of family crests for the families who ruled over Matsumoto. I absolutely love looking at family crests, both European and Japanese, so of course I would take close-ups of them.
Just for your info, see the lines of large, bold characters just beneath the crests? Those are the family names who own those crests. But notice that the last character is the same for all the families. Wanna guess why? It's because that kanji (character) is the kanji for "family". So in essence, the kanji read as "The Family of ....". I believe the Japanese reading of that kanji is min (meen).
Some decor around the main grounds. Oh, by the way, we have taken our group photo and have entered the main ground.
So naturally, I have photos of the castle keep from inside the castle grounds.
And, oh look! A Samurai! Samurai were guards and soldiers of Japan. See the awesome design of the helmet? Well, that design helped identify the samurai. Mind you, not all soldiers were in awesome attire like this, I believe. The foot soldiers of the Sengoku Era were in fairly plain armor.
We're now inside the castle keep and looking out the windows. These windows were used by the archers to fend off the enemies during attacks.
Yay! Some pictures of artifacts. In the picture above are triggers from old imported guns from the 16th Century. Wonder how the war-ridden Japan was finally unified? Well, by the use of guns actually.
These photos are of a painting depicting a battle during the Sengoku Era.
At this point, I am about 3 to 4 floors up in the keep. The keep, by the way, is 6 floors tall.
And this is a typical stairwell in the keep. Please note the angle of the photo, it is almost straight up. I am at the bottom of the stairs. Each stair was at least a foot and a half high and about 6 inches deep. I nearly fell down the stairs coming down because I thought my foot was an inch or so above the stair and thus transferred my weight to that foot. Come to find out I was closer to 3 or 4 inches of step...and it was the second step from the top that I was stepping down onto....talk about being scared to death. (Note: how many times can I use "step" in a sentence!?)
And voila! I have made it to the top of the keep! I have pictures of maps that point out major peaks and sites visible from each main window and a photo of a sign telling which direction the window is facing. The first set of photos has the directional sign last. All the other sets of photos begin with the directional sign.
And now I head back down the keep. On the way down there are more artifacts on display. I can't believe most of this stuff, if not all of it, is over 400 years old!!! In fact, these artifacts are older than my own country!!!!! And, this is another reason I like Japan so much.
And we are out of the keep. Notice in the photo above how there are people kneeling, sitting, or leaning over? That is because they are putting their shoes back on. It is tradition that you take your outdoor shoes off at the entrance. Often you have to step up into the building. That step is a good indication for foreigners as to when you have to take off your shoes. Typically there will be guest slippers waiting for you to wear inside the building (or in the case of K-12 schools, you have a shoe locker to keep your indoor shoes in upon leaving school and to keep your outdoor shoes during the school day). Since this is a tourist site, there are no indoor slippers for the guests, so the guests are supposed to walk around with their shoes in a bag and their socks on their feet. Moral of the story: when visiting Matsumoto Castle, wear socks!
Now we say goodbye to Matsumoto Castle and walk down the road to our bus to go home.
Note about the above photo: I don't know the person in the photo. It's just a typical mother probably running errands with her babe on her back. This is very common to see in Japan. But, why did I snap a pic of this particular woman? Because of how her baby was sleeping. :D What can I say? I love kids!
Now back to photos from the bus!
Thought this city was so cool since it was situated by and around a large, large lake! (No pun intended on the use of "cool"!)
And we have finally finished my adventures to Nagano! I hope you enjoyed all of my photos! I thoroughly enjoyed taking them!
My next post will be a week-in-review post, then I will try and write up some more topical posts throughout the week!
Until then, later peeps!
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