Matsumoto Castle is one of Japan's historic castles. Located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture, it is within easy reach of Tokyo, making it popular with tourists from Japan and other countries.
This castle is also called Crow Castle because of its black walls and spreading wings. It is an example of a flatland castle, not being built on a hilltop or amid rivers.
The castle's origins go back to the Sengoku (Warring States) period. At that time, the Ogasawara clan built a fort on this site, which was originally called Fukashi Castle. Later, it came under the rule of the Takeda clan and then Tokugawa Ieyasu.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi transferred Ieyasu to the KantÅ region, 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 tenshu (donjon tower), inui-kotenshu (small tower in the northwest), watari-yagura (connecting scaffold), goten (residence), taikomon (drum gate), kuromon (black gate), yagura (scaffold), hori (trench), honmaru (the main wing), ninomaru (the second wing), sannomaru (the third wing), 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 in 1593-4.
During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate established the Matsumoto Han, of which the Matsudaira, Mizuno and others were the daimyo.
In 1872, following the Meiji Restoration, the tower was sold at auction and was at risk of being dismantled. However, with the cooperation of Ichikawa Ryozo and other people of Matsumoto, it was spared. The Kuromon-ninomon (second gate of the black gate) and sodebei (side wall) were reconstructed in 1990. The taikomon-masugata (square-shaped drum gate) was reconstructed in 1999.
The tower of Matsumoto Castle is listed as a National Treasure of Japan.
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