Day 16, Matsumoto

After surviving the morning rush hour, I left the Big City for my next destination, Matsumoto. This required my 9th shinkansen ride, this time from Ueno to Nagano (the Olympic city). Matsumoto is located to the south-west of Nagano, near the ‘Japanese Alps’. Like Kamakura, Matsumoto is less known to foreigners than Nagano, but in fact it is a nicer city.

Matsumoto has some things that distinguish it from other cities. From the sung welcome at the train station, to the old twisting streets that are seemingly unchanged for the past hundreds of years, housing old shops that have been selling the same goods all those years. My ryokan (Nunoya) is also located in one of those streets. It is a completely wooden building, creaking like crazy, but with lots of atmosphere (and a very friendly owner).

And then there is the castle (see photos), nicknamed the ‘Crow Castle’ for its black and white colors. This is one of the only 5 castles in Japan that have survived in their original form, making it a national monument. But in fact the whole city is part of its defenses. The street plan has been designed in such a way that it is difficult to reach the castle at all. Some streets go nowhere, or slowly bend onto themselves, everything to mislead the enemy. The castle itself is entirely made of wood, and his 6 floors. That is, on the outside it seems to have only 5 floors (you can count them on the photo). This too is a trick to confuse attackers. Within the castle there is a windowless level that is half as high as normal. Very useful to surprise attackers that think they have almost reached the top. Furthermore, the stairs are located at opposite corners of a level, and they are extremely steep, making it difficult even for tourists to climb to the top. All in all it is a nicely designed fortress.

The reason that the fortress has survived the times is because it has never been attacked! It was built to protect the local Ogasawara clan in the age of clan wars. However, when the castle was finished, around 1600, the Edo era had just begun. This was a period of 250 years of domestic peace, after Ieyasu Tokugawa had conquered all of Japan (see also the Nikko story). So nobody has ever fired a shot at the castle.

In the evening I tried one of the local yakitori-ya. Restaurant types in Japan are often called after the type of food they specialise in, plus the suffix ‘ya’ (meaning ‘place’). So this restaurant mainly specialised in yakitori food. Originally, this is the name for roasted meat on skewers, but basically they roast everything. Of course they also sell local specialties, such as raw horse meat (I went for the roasted version). The place was quite relaxed, and especially funny was the ‘eigo no menyu’ (English menu), which frankly made no sense at all. At least, I don’t think that they really sell burning food, or moody pork.