JAPAN ALMANAC
Interpretive illustration of Matsumoto Castle reflected in its moat; not a site photograph.

Castle Atlas / No. 29

Matsumoto Castle

Matsumoto Castle is one of Japan’s great surviving wooden keeps: a black-walled flatland castle complex tied to the Ogasawara, Ishikawa, Toda and other lordly lineages.

Open in Google MapsOfficial visitor source

History

What historically stood here

The Japan Castle Foundation records 松本城 as a 平城 site in 松本市, with the founding label 文禄2～3年（1593～94）. The listed builder or associated clan is 石川数正・康長; principal lords are 石川氏、小笠原氏、戸田（松平）氏、松平氏、堀田氏、水野氏.

The site’s history spans Sengoku, Edo period, modern preservation.

Today

What you are actually seeing today

You are seeing an original National Treasure keep complex, including connected towers and moon-viewing architecture, not a concrete reconstruction.

Current condition
Original surviving keep
Terrain
Hirajiro: flatland castle
Condition note
Keep field marks the keep as surviving (現存). Classified 2026-09-24 from the structured fields at https://cmeg.jp/w/castles/3294.

Architecture And Defense

How to read the place

  • original National Treasure keep
  • black exterior
  • moat
  • connected tower complex

Cultural-property notes in the Foundation row: 大天守, 乾小天守, 渡櫓, 辰巳附櫓, 月見櫓（以上国宝）, 国指定史跡.

National Treasure context: listed in Foundation cultural-property field.

Visit

Present-day visitor information

Public visitor site; check Matsumoto Castle official information before relying on hours or crowd conditions.

Address or access location
長野県松本市丸の内4-1
Coordinates
36.238625, 137.968862
Nearest useful station
Matsumoto Station
Estimated visit duration
2-3 hours
Opening hours
Check the official visitor source.
Admission
Check the official visitor source.

Seasonal planning note

  • Snow, blossom and clear mountain-view days can change the visual character and crowd pattern.

Nearby

Castles close enough to compare

Sources

Source and correction context

Identity, list membership, Foundation list number, municipality, basic classification and cultural-property notes are source-verified. Site-level visitor details require additional review unless this record is publishable. Foundation numbers are official list identifiers, not rankings. Coordinates use the Foundation-linked position-data KML and should be treated as visitor-planning coordinates rather than archaeological survey points.

Sources

  1. Japan's Top 100 and Continued Top 100 Castle Position Data, Japan Castle Foundation / Nippon Castle. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the 200 castle addresses and coordinates exposed through the public map linked from the Japan Castle Foundation castle-search page.
  2. Japan's Top 100 Castles, Japan Castle Foundation. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the official identity, list number, list membership, location municipality, castle type, founding label, builders, principal lords, cultural-property notes, and keep-status notes for the original 100-castle selection.
  3. Discover Japan's Twelve Original Castles, Japan National Tourism Organization. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used as visitor-facing context for the surviving original-keep distinction, while individual list identity remains sourced to the Japan Castle Foundation.
  4. 100 Fine Castles of Japan and Continued 100 Fine Castles of Japan, Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used only as a secondary cross-check for common English castle names; Japan Castle Foundation records remain the corpus source of truth.
  5. Nippon Shiro Meguri castle records: keep structure, remains and rebuilt structures, Nippon Shiro Meguri (cmeg.jp). Accessed 2026-09-24. Structured fields for each of the 200 castles, used to classify what stands at each site today. The linked record for each castle is its coordinate source.