The two-stage Taikō Masugata gate of Matsumoto castle was faithfully restored just over a decade ago, in 1999. The original gate was torn down in 1871, when so many other castles around Japan were being decommissioned & their materials being sold off. Luckily for us, Matsumoto’s main tower escaped a similar fate.

As mentioned, it is a Masugata gate. In basic terms, this is a box with two, offset gates. You can see in the picture that to pass through these gates you must alter your line to enter through the second gate. This wouldn’t so much present a bigger obstacle to any foe wishing to access the castle, but it is effective in obscuring the goings on within the castle. The first gate (which you can see the twin roofs of) is of the Kōrai Mon style (鷹麗門), and the larger gate is of the Yagura Mon style (櫓門). Confusingly, the first gate is the Ni-no Mon (二の門) and the second (larger) gate is the Ichi-no Mon (一の門).

There is a rather large (22.5 ton) upright stone in the centre-right of the picture. It is known as the Gemba stone (玄蕃石) and apparently the name is derived from the name of the lord of the castle at the time of its construction in the early 1600′s. Named stones such as this one can actually be found at many castles around Japan.

Matsumoto’s hospitality

The first building that I entered during my visit to Matsumoto castle was this one. The staff there, an older gentleman, welcomed me in like I was a regular to his izake-ya. In I went, and was given a tour of every single feature of the turret-topped gate. And there were many! He was kind to the point where I felt obliged to hang around longer than I’d hoped to. After he got distracted with more visitors to the gate, I jumped up in the middle of the documentary on the gate I’d been watching & scuttled off.

But really, what a positive experience. He was just so happy to inform & help in any way he could. And when you are in a new place, that's exactly what you need. Whether you realise it or not.