is a

Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...

located in

Matsue is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. , the city had an estimated population of 196,748 in 91287 households and a population density of 340 persons per km². The total area of ...

Shimane Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a ge ...

. Matsue Castle was constructed from 1607 to 1611 by Horio Yoshiharu, the first ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of the

Matsue Domain 270px, Surviving walls and moat of Matsue Castle 270px, Matsudaira Sadayasu, final ''daimyō'' of Matsue was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now eastern Shimane Prefecture. It was centered around ...

, during the early

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. Ownership was passed to the

Izumo Izumo (出雲) may refer to: Locations * Izumo Province, an old province of Japan * Izumo, Shimane, a city located in Shimane Prefecture ** Izumo Airport * Izumo-taisha, one of Japan's most ancient and important Shinto shrines Ships * ''Izumo ...

branch of the Kyōgoku in 1633 and then the Matsudaira, a junior branch of the ruling Tokugawa clan, in 1637. The Matsudaira donated Matsue Castle to the city of Matsue in 1927. Matsue Castle is one of few remaining feudal Japanese castles that retains its main keep in its original wooden form and not a modern

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

reconstruction. Built after the last great war of

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...

, the keep has survived

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s, fires, wars and other causes that destroyed or damaged many Japanese castles. However, a number of its castle buildings were demolished during the early

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, leaving only the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, an attached

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

and stone walls existing as original structures today, though some of the other castle buildings have been reconstructed in modern times. Matsue Castle, standing on the shores of Lake Shinji, is one of Japan's Three Great Lake Castles and the heart of Matsue's central riverside district.

History

Of the 100+ castles remaining in Japan, Matsue Castle is the only one with a surviving main keep in the

San'in region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Specifically, it is the two prefectures of Shimane Prefecture, Shimane and Tottori Prefecture ...

. This keep is the second largest, the third tallest (30m) and the sixth oldest amongst Japanese castles. It was built over a period of 5 years by the daimyō of the

region, Horio Yoshiharu, and was completed in 1611. After the reigns of

Horio Tadaharu Horio Tadaharu (堀尾忠晴; 1596 – 26 October 1633) was a tozama ''daimyō'' in Japan during the Edo period. His father was Horio Tadauji and his grandfather was Horio Yoshiharu. He was the third leader of the Matsue clan. He married Bi ...

and

Kyōgoku Tadataka was a Japanese noble and the ''daimyō'' and head of the of Japan during the Edo period in the early 17th century. Life His Childhood name was Kumamaro (熊麿). Kyōgoku Tadataka was a member and head of the powerful Kyōgoku clan who cla ...

, Matsudaira Naomasa, a grandson of

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

, became Lord of the castle, after being transferred from Matsumoto in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

, and thus began a reign that lasted 10 generations of the Matsudaira clan over a period of 234 years. In 1875, all of the buildings within the castle were dismantled, with the exception of the castle tower itself and attached turret, which were allowed to remain due to pressure from interest groups. These buildings underwent a complete reconstruction between 1950 and 1955. In 2001, several of the castle's former turrets were reconstructed. The keep is a complex structure, built in a watchtower-style, that appears to be five stories from the outside, but has, in fact, six levels inside. Most of the walls of the keep are painted black. It is a strong structure, built to withstand warfare, yet at the same time, it is majestic and solemn, reminiscent of the Momoyama style. The tenshu and attached turret of Matsue Castle have been registered as a

national treasure of Japan Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is " Tangible Cultural Properties designated by law in modern Japan as having extremely high value." Specifically, it refers to buildings, arts, and crafts designated as especially valuable from ...

since July 9, 2015.http://tabijikan.com/article/17201/ , Matsue Castle - finally designed as a Japan's national treasure in 2015 , Retrieved 17 Jan 2017.

Gallery

References

Literature

* * * * *

External links

Japan Guide

Matsue Tourism

{{Authority control Castles in Shimane Prefecture Museums in Shimane Prefecture History museums in Japan Historic Sites of Japan National Treasures of Japan Kyōgoku clan Matsue-Matsudaira clan Buildings and structures in Matsue