Discover Matsumoto

Matsumoto can be explored through its buildings, streets and art from a variety of perspectives. If you’re looking for a hotel in Matsumoto, it may help to decide on the cultural focus of your trip in advance: Are you most interested in the castle’s architecture, historic streets and their former purpose, or art connected to the city? The following places offer different points of interest.

Matsumoto Castle: Architecture from Two Eras

Matsumoto Castle is designated a National Treasure of Japan. Its architecture includes Japan’s oldest surviving five-story, six-level castle keep. Alongside this distinctive keep, the complex is defined by the combination of two building phases: The keep was built during the warring-states period; the elegant Tsukimi turret was added later, in a time of peace.

This brings together structures from different periods. Those interested in architectural history can consider the difference between the period when the keep was built and the later addition. The castle offers more than a single building: its history can also be viewed through the sequence in which these two parts were built.

School History and the Merchant District

The former school building of Kaichi School offers another historical perspective. It is one of Japan’s oldest schools. In contrast to the castle, the focus here is on a building associated with education. This offers a different way of viewing Matsumoto’s history, alongside the castle’s architectural development.

Numerous black-and-white storehouses with white plaster walls define the appearance of Nakamachi Street’s historic merchant district. Their design was not merely decorative: the storehouses were intended to protect the district from fires at the end of the Edo period and during the Meiji period. The street therefore illustrates a clear connection between appearance and intended function. What makes this especially interesting in comparison with the castle is its different focus: here, the emphasis is on the surviving storehouses and their fire-protection purpose.

A Street with a Historic Connection to a Shrine

Nawate Street’s development as an approach to Yohashira Shrine is its central historical connection. After the shrine was built in 1879, the street developed into an access road to it. The sequence of events puts the street’s history in context: the shrine was built before the access road developed. Nawate thus adds the history of a street connected to a shrine to the examples of the castle, school building and merchant district.

Art Connected to Matsumoto

Matsumoto City Museum of Art adds another perspective to the city’s cultural landscape. Visitors are greeted at the entrance by a large tulip sculpture titled “Phantom Flower.” The museum also exhibits works by Yayoi Kusama, an avant-garde artist from Matsumoto. At the same location, the striking sculpture at the entrance and works by an artist connected to Matsumoto offer different points of interest for art lovers.

These themes can give your trip different focuses: the castle brings together two building phases, Kaichi School represents school history, Nakamachi represents a historic merchant district and its approach to fire protection, Nawate the development of an access road, and the art museum art connected to the city. When choosing a hotel for your trip, consider which of these focuses you’d most like to shape your stay in Matsumoto.

Discover more destinations: Shimojo, Ōmachi, Chiisagata District, Chikuma, Komagane, Chino, Hakuba, Azumino.

For the broader travel overview: Nagano Prefecture.