SAMURAI CASTLES: Matsumoto Castle - Time and Tide

a synthesis of wisdom and technology the

samurai

castle

a

castle

Secrets reveal a deeper insight into Japan Hello, I have been Chris Glen for over 30 years. I have lived in Japan studying the history and culture of

samurai

, armor, weapons, war and, of course, the symbolic and iconic. Samurai

castles

throughout history and throughout Japan between 40 and 50,000

castles

were built today, only 12 castle layers remain in their original state. This is one of them. Matsumoto Castle. This enormous shining tower that has stood for centuries projects a different face over the waters of the moat. Black and aqua are synonymous with Matsumoto Castle, which incorporated the latest in architectural engineering and technology of the

time

.

In this episode we analyze the technologies and secrets of the more than 400-year-old Matsumoto Castle. Matsumoto is located in the central Nagano prefecture with the castle at its center. probably one of the most photogenic castles of all with its imposing black building, it looks invincible, isn't it still elegant and full of poise and the stunning reflection in wide mode here means you can't really stop at just one or two photographs. I've already taken about 2.3000 and I'm probably going to take a few hundred more today. The five adjoining structures stand proud no matter the angle. The castle we see today dates back to when Toyotomi Hidoshi had power over most of Japan.

Toyot Tomi's vassal and Matsumoto Lord Ishikawa Kazumasa began construction in 1590 and his son Yasunaga completed it. A newly appointed Lord later added extensions during the Toaga shogunate. Well, let's start with the taomon or door of the Drum Tower on the east side of the castle, which contains several prevention devices. Enemy infiltration The original Taomon was demolished in 1868 at the dawn of Japan's modernization, but was rebuilt in 1999 Claimed to have a design feature rarely seen in other surviving castles The main gates of most castles are actually two sets of doors perpendicular to each other even though both doors here face the same direction, they still serve as an effective defense against invasion.

Let's look inside, see the triangular and rectangular openings in the walls. These are loopholes. The triangular ones are lower because the samurai would kneel on one knee to aim and shoot. Their matchlock weapons, the rectangular ones, are placed a little higher for the archers to use, the length of the bow would actually dictate the height of those openings. Potential attackers could be attacked from within the tyon placed above the gate, it is a turret, so the defenders could attack the attackers from the turret above and the gate below, still some attackers may escape unscathed and passing through one door it would be disturbing to find the other door displaced.

Now these two doors and the intermediate courtyard form a very effective defense called masata or death. box door, if you make it through the first door you will be trapped in this box shaped section here and they will attack you from all directions and kill you. Check out these exceptionally large rocks like this one, called kagami ishi or mirror, that are often placed. In and around the gates and entrances of castles to reflect the power and financial strength of its Master, this kagami isi stands 3.6 m tall and weighs approximately 22.5 tons. It's weird because it's vertical. A legend surrounds this kagami isi who has taken control.

It is said that during the construction of the castle by his father, Lord Ishikawa, Yasunaga rode on the kagami isi to encourage the workers as they placed the rock in his position. The complaints of one of the workers caught his attention, so Yasunaga lost his mind in front of everyone since then. Later, the Bold has been named gimber isi after the title of yaga at the

time

, kagami isi exudes authority and can be found in most castles. The largest stands at Osaka Castle, located in the early 1600s, the kagami isi measures 5.5m high, 11.7m wide and is believed to weigh 108 tons, a true testament to the power of the tagawa clam.

CL. Once through the taomon, the tenu comes into view. The tenu or keep appears to be nearby, but it is protected by this wide moat that prevents enemy access. The moes surround the tenu and the inner Bailey at 60 M the inner moat is wider just in front of the Teno to enter the inner Bailey, attackers would have to pass through the kuromon or black gate similar to the taomon, it is designed to allow The defenders attack the advancing enemy in two levels from the turret door. at the back and the fence at the front inside the honmaru or the innermost Bailey, the tinu, the keep is an absolutely incredible structure, look at this, oh there you can see the main tower in the middle and the structures around both sides do it. they look like the outstretched wings of a bird in flight five structures make up the tenu complex of the original tenu Still standing today the main tower building of Matsumoto with 25 m high is the second in height after Himi Castle on the right you will see A connected subke next to a narrow tower or watari yagura on the left are the tagura with its red railings and the Tatsumi skaga turrets.

This complex set of connected turrets and turrets is unique to Matsumoto Castle, and the purpose of each structure differs depending on when it was built. The tenu entrance is in the turret that connects the main tower and the subke, keep to the left when entering the tower, apart from the sturdy wooden doors and these very tall stairs that would obviously slow down attackers, most people He would instinctively turn left and head towards the main tower. completely forgetting about the subke on the right, so when they turn they turn their back to the subke, in which case the defenders here would attack them from behind, but here's something you really need to check and that is that the subke has a Look at this, the Timbers inside and the architecture is of an older style, the subke was most likely the original keep and then as the castle developed over the years it slowly grew and became a castle larger and more expansive.

Don't miss it when you come. and visit this castle. All pillars of the main tenue are square pillars, while the subu employs both square and rounded pillars. This shows how architectural techniques advanced around the time of the construction of Matsumoto Castle and how more time and effort was spent developing them. The structures press the outer walls along the first floor lined with loopholes and the corridor in front of them is called the warrior's run because that is what the samurai would be doing in times of attack at the time the castle was built, the main siege weapons used.

The samurai had matchlock weapons and arrows, so the keep complex is fortified for battle and has up to 115 lagoons. The second floor would have been used to house the samurai in the event of a siege. The third floor is hidden from the outside by a roof, so it was intended as windowless storage. The fourth floor has a different prestigious atmosphere, so it is believed that the Lord of the Dial would have sat here during the battle. It is believed that the fifth floor was used for strategy meetings now before we go up to the sixth floor there is something I want you to take a look at and it is this particular pillar here and you notice that it has a couple of notches on the side here .

The story goes that in the early 1900's the tower started to lean to one side, so what they did was pull them apart leaving only the wooden frame, then they attached some ropes to the pillars and then pulled them to straighten the whole thing. the Tower, but is that story true? I tend to think that is not the reason because these notches are only on this particular pillar. and none of the other stories are full of riddles like this and most of the time it is almost impossible to find out the truth when you visit castles look for things like this and let your imagination run wild on the sixth and last floor there is a narrow corridor like Passage that runs through the perimeter, what do you think it is?

Apparently a balcony was originally planned for the top floor. However, the winters here are very harsh due to wind, rain and snow, and those balconies were difficult and expensive to maintain, so instead. During construction they enclosed this section. This corridor is a remnant of the original plan and of course the changes made it much more effective than an open plan style. In most castles, the keep gets narrower as it goes up, so the top floor would be the smallest. In Matsumoto, the planned gallery around the upper floor was closed, so the fifth and sixth floors are almost the same size, giving the maintenance a solid and robust appearance.

Now let's go down and look at the adjacent structure, here the architecture is different once again. This open space gives the yagura skim a different atmosphere than the main cape and the red railing around the outside provides a luxurious atmosphere. This was for entertainment purposes and they used to say that when they had a moon viewing party here, you could actually see the moon three times Once in the sky The sky once reflected in the moat and once reflected in your cup of saki Mind you, if you have enough saki you can probably see quite a few moons, maybe the skimi yagura and Tatsumi kagura turrets were built after Tokugawa easu won. full control of Japan and an era of peace prevailed. the skim yagura was intended for potential visits from the tenu of Shogun matoto castle and its extensions are rare because they were completed during times of war and peace.

The fact that this four-century-old castle still stands is a testament to the leading technology of the time. Tenu are usually built on foundations reinforced with stone walls to support the weight. The weight of the main Matsumoto tower is estimated at 1,000 tons. At a glance, it seems that the stone walls are supporting the weight. weight, but the foundations hide a structural device not seen in other castles. This piece of wood was part of a support column excavated in the foundation of Matumoto Castle during restoration work carried out between 1950 and 1955. The researchers found that 16 columns each with a length of 5 m and a diameter of 40 cm are buried in the foundations to support the keep why such reinforcement was necessary the answer lies in the local geography, that's good Matsumoto is famous for its sobriety and this is due to its location here in Nagano prefecture.

Sobriety is made from Bak weed flour and water and one of the reasons why Matsumoto is famous for its sobriety is the quality of the water. Maimoto is known for having pristine groundwater and the city today maintains 20 wells where residents collect water for drinking and use it in their homes in the city. It is surrounded by mountains, including the Northern Alps, where rain and snowmelt from mountains as high as 3,000 m infiltrate the ground and accumulate beneath the Matsumoto Basin, creating a huge water table below. from the city, so Matsumoto Casto needed a column support in his space. to be on soft ground, why did they decide to build in a place like this during the civil unrest that lasted for about 100 years from the end of the 15th century?

Most forts were built on mountains and ridges to make the most of the topography. for defense, but the locations were inconvenient for receiving guests or for daily life. Matsumoto Castle, built on a flat surface, could easily be attacked in tumultuous times, but was conveniently located for peacetime politics to increase its fences. Moes were dug and filled with groundwater. to all the attacks but it was not simply a matter of digging ditches around the castle the land on which the castle was built is higher to the northeast and slopes down to the southwest a difference in altitude of 7 m this posed a problem in maintaining the water levels in the Moes the solution was sloes, some of which can still be seen today embankments were built in the moat with a mechanism that uses thin pipes to adjust water levels the gushing groundwater would be condemned by the embankment and excess water Runoff through pipes, this device was used in the three Moes surrounding the castle, but despite the inadequate topography, there is another important reason why Matsumoto Castle is located here.

The motto was the confluence of major highways from all directions, from east to west, the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of ​​Japan, it could be called the navel of Japan, the tower of Matsumoto Castle was built as a tool to exude presence and to astonish and intimidate those who passed by. The presence of the Ten is not only due to its size, but because it is black, it seems even more imposing, but why black and not white like so many other castles? Hekeep is covered with black lace tablets. The upper parts of the walls are plastered white.

So why did they use this combination of styles? If you look closely, you'll notice that the ceilings protect the white. Rain sections The plaster used at the time was fire resistant but prone to rain damage, so the walls had to be removed and plastered every 20 to 30 years due to unfavorable weather conditions in the area. Charcoal coated slats were placed in the sections that would be exposed to rain, the slats were lacquered to be water resistant, the walls would be re-laid periodically and the boards would only need to be replaced every 50 years. The sealant was certainly expensive, but the lacquered slats were cost-effective and required less effort, even today the slats are renewed every year, which is why the tower still retains the same shine it had more than 400 years ago, but there are another reason why he is black.

Since ancient times, lacer was considered sacred and was used in special items in jishi in Kyoto, more commonly known as gin. Kakui, the walls were once painted black, which made them appear silver when light reflected off them, hence the nickname Silver Pavilion or gaku. This statue of Ashura, a Buddhist demigod, was made in the early 8th century by applying and drying layers of hemp lacquers on a surface. It is believed that the first person to use this sacred lacquer on the tenu of a castle was OD Noaga, a powerful Dao.Who strove to unify Japan during the period of civil unrest, Noaga had the tenu of the Azuchi castle adorned in black To give him a magnificent and dignified presence and also show his strength, the next Samurai Lord to take up the mantle of unifying Japan Toyotomi Hioshi is also said to have worn black ribbon on his Teno at Osaka Castle Matsumoto Castle in its current form It was built when Toyota warlord Tom Hidoshi controlled most of Japan.

The Lord of the Castle was one of Hoshi's allies and that is why it is believed that the Castle tower was in black to show Hideyoshi's authority to other Warlords or because the lacer wood panels adapted to the Lord's tastes. , the role of this dignified ensemble of black turrets and turrets changed over time during the peaceful Toag period. Matsumoto Castle is one of the few castles that has survived the times. There are always fascinating reasons as to why castles are located where they are and built as they were, the techniques used were dictated by the local conditions and terrain, remember the keep is not the castle, a castle is a fortified area, Not a structure, so when you visit, be sure to take a good look around the entire grounds and you will be amazed at the 400-year-old technology and ingenuity that went into building these original and impressive samurai castles.