Matsue castle-National Treasures of Shimane Prefecture | Shimane

Matsue Castle, a national treasure in Shimane Prefecture

Matsue Castle (also known as “Chidori Castle”) is an Edo period castle built in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture. The existing castle tower is a national treasure, and the castle ruins are designated as a national historic site.

The red seal (ojo-in) of Matsue Castle is made of “Matsue-made” Japanese paper and has a very simple design with the family crests of the Kyogoku family (four-tiered tie) and the Matsudaira family (three hollyhocks on a circle), who were the successive lords of the Matsue domain.
It is available at the tourist information center immediately after entering the castle from the Ote-mae parking lot.（https://www.visit-matsue.com/）

What kind of castle is “Matsue Castle”? The castle flourished as the seat of the Matsue clan for 260 years.

Matsue Castle is a flat mountain castle located in Tonomachi, Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture.
The castle was built in 1611 in the early Edo period by Yoshiharu Horio (father of Tadashi Horio, the first lord of the Matsue domain, who died in 1604. Tadaharu died in 1604, and Yoshiharu served as the guardian of his grandson Tadaharu.

Originally, the Matsue domain office was located at Gassan Tomita Castle (famous as the home of the Amago clan during the Warring States period), 17 km southeast of Matsue Castle (about 36 minutes by car). However, Yoshiharu Horio found the mountain castle of Tsukiyama-Tonda Castle inconvenient and moved it to Matsue Castle in 1611, making it the seat of the Matsue domain.
The domain was headed by two generations of the Horie clan, one generation of the Kyogoku clan, and ten generations of the Matsue Matsudaira clan. The Matsue Matsudaira clan (the first generation, Matsudaira Naomasa, was a grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu) fell into financial difficulties, but they established a monopoly on ginseng, cotton, and iron to generate income from sources other than annual tribute rice.

In 1873, the castle was sold and all the buildings except the castle tower were removed due to an ordinance to abolish the castle. The tower and moat have been restored to their current state since the end of the war.

Matsue Castle’s keep was the last of the five national treasures to be designated as a national treasure.

Currently, there are five castles in Japan whose keep is designated as a National Treasure, and “Matsue Castle” is among them (the other four are: Himeji Castle, Matsumoto Castle, Hikone Castle, and Inuyama Castle).
Matsue Castle was designated a National Treasure in 2015, the first time in 65 years that a castle has been designated a National Treasure.
Originally, “Matsue Castle” was designated as a National Treasure under the National Treasure Preservation Act before World War II, but was designated as an Important Cultural Property under the Cultural Properties Protection Act that came into effect after the war.
The main reason for its designation as an Important Cultural Property was that the date of construction was unknown.

In response to repeated requests for the designation as a National Treasure, and in 2007, the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the Matsue Domain, a survey of Matsue Castle was conducted once again.
In 2012, two prayer cards were discovered in the storehouse of Matsue Shrine near the castle, and these prayer cards had the date “Keicho 16 (1611 AD)” written on them.
A nail hole was found in the basement of the castle tower of Matsue Castle, where these two prayer cards were believed to have been hammered, and when the cards were fitted together, they were found to match.
This proved that Matsue Castle was built in Keicho 16, and it was designated as a national treasure.

Access to Matsue Castle

1-5 Tono-machi, Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, 690-0887

Parking around Matsue Castle

Matsue Castle Official Website

Official site：https://www.visit-matsue.com/

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