There was once a rule prohibiting girls from dancing in the streets of Matsue City. According to legend, if they did, the base of Matsue Castle, the city's symbol, would begin to shake, endangering the towering structure. The legend suggests that Matsue Castle’s Ishigaki stone walls contain a Hitobashira, a human sacrifice entombed within the stonework to act as the castle's guardian spirit. In this case, the Hitobashira was a young girl who loved to dance, and to prevent the castle from ever collapsing, a law was passed prohibiting girls from dancing in the streets, thus avoiding upsetting the spirit within.
Also known as Chidori-Jo, or Plover Castle, Matsue Castle in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, is one of just 12 keeps remaining in original condition and one of five National Treasure-registered castles. Situated high atop Mt. Kameda on the northern banks of Lake Shinji, Matsue Castle was built by Horio Yoshiharu (1544-1611), previously the castellan of Hamamatsu Castle, and his son Tadashi (1578-1604). The Horio clan was awarded the domain for their meritorious deeds in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Construction began in 1607 and was completed five years later. Horio Tadashi died without an heir, and the Horio clan ended in 1611 with the death of his father, Yoshiharu.
Kyogoku Tadataka then became the Lord of Matsue, followed in 1638 by Matsudaira Naomasa (1601-1666), a grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose descendants ruled until 1871 when the castle was abandoned. Except for the main tower, all surrounding defensive watchtowers, gates, and other structures were demolished in 1875.
Matsue Castle had just eight yagura watchtowers and four gates, which was relatively few for such a large and important castle. However, its Renkaku-shiki layout, hilltop positioning, wide moats, numerous canals, steep embankments, and high ishigaki stone walls provided sufficient defense.
Standing 23 meters above the seven-meter-high stone tenshu-dai base, Matsue Castle’s tower keep is a fine example of an early Edo period tenshu with five levels concealing six inner floors and an underground basement. Access is via the forward-protruding tsuke-yagura, adjoining the basement. The interior is maintained in excellent condition and contains a fine collection of samurai helmets, armor, weapons, and items of historical interest. Unlike most castles, the main support pillars of Matsue Castle are constructed from multiple timber beams fastened together with staple-like hooks called Kasugai.
The keep is a borogata type tenshu, or watchtower style, similar to the towers of Inuyama, Maruoka, and Nakatsu Castles. Borogata towers resemble temple hall construction, with towers built onto the center of the roof. Matsue’s tower keep has two levels under a temple-like irimoya roof, with a tower section raised on top. The exterior of the lower sections is covered in black shitami-ita, blackened wood paneling protecting the wattle-and-daub-type mud walls beneath, giving the castle an older appearance. Matsue Castle has ishi-otoshi stone-dropping chutes set on the second floor, hidden by the first tier of roofing, a trait shared only with Nagoya Castle. Incidentally, Matsue’s copper-plated rooftop shachi-hoko tiger-fish ornaments are 2.25 meters high, second only to Nagoya Castle. Another point of note is the kato-mado, the elegant candle flame-shaped central window above the second floor roofing and below the third floor’s triangular hafu curved roof gable, adding an attractive design to the otherwise stoic, geometrical structure of the keep.
Interestingly, while most castle eaves are plastered under the edges to cover the wooden beams and panels and prevent fire from spreading, Matsue Castle’s eaves are not plastered, leaving the plain, exposed wood visible from below. The view from the large, open windows on the top floor provides a clear panorama of the town, rivers, and moats below.
See also
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Kaminoyama Castle
Kamino-yama Castle stood at the center of an important logistics hub, in the middle of the Yonezawa Plain, which served as the gateway to the western part of the Tohoku region. Roads connecting the Aizu, Fukushima, and Yamagata areas intersected here.
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Imabari Castle
Tōdō Takatora (1556–1630) served at different times as a vassal of several famous clans—Azai, Oda, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa. He took part in the Battle of Anegawa (1570), the Battle of Shizugatake (1583), the invasions of Kyushu and Korea, the Sekigahara campaign (1600), and the Siege of Osaka (1614–1615).
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Iwakuni Castle
Kikkawa Hiroie (1561–1625) was the grandson of the famous daimyo Mori Motonari and a vassal of the Mori clan. Under Mori Terumoto, he fought in both Korean campaigns and took part in the defense of Ulsan Castle. During the Battle of Sekigahara, Hiroie stood with his 3,000-man force on the side of the Western Coalition; however, even before the battle began, he sent Tokugawa Ieyasu a secret message stating that he did not intend to fight Tokugawa’s troops. As a result of his inaction, 15,000 soldiers under Mori Hidemoto were also unable to enter the battle, since Hiroie blocked their path.
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Gujo Hachiman Castle
Gujo Hachiman Castle is located on 350-meter Mount Hachiman, near the confluence of the Yoshidagawa and Kodaragava rivers, and not far from the Nagaragawa River. During the Sengoku period, this area was of great strategic importance: it stood at a key crossroads of routes connecting Mino Province in the south with the Sea of Japan in the north, and Hida Province in the east with Echizen Province in the west.
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Amagasaki Castle
The founding year of Amagasaki Castle is traditionally considered to be 1617, when Toda Ujikané built his castle here, making it the administrative center of the Amagasaki Domain. However, as early as the Sengoku period, a fortress built by the Hosokawa clan already stood on this site. After the fall of Itami Castle in 1579, Araki Murashige—formerly a vassal of Oda Nobunaga who had rebelled against him—fled to this earlier castle.
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Hiroshima Castle
Mōri Terumoto (1553–1625) was the grandson and rightful heir of the renowned Mōri Motonari. When Terumoto became the head of the Mōri clan in 1571, he inherited vast territories covering a large part of the San’in and San’yō regions in western Honshū. In addition, the Mōri clan possessed the largest and most technologically advanced naval fleet of its time.
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Fukuyama Castle
After the defeat of Toyotomi Hideyori’s supporters in the Osaka Campaigns of 1614–1615, many clans in Japan still remained not fully loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate, especially in the western Chūgoku region. Mizuno Katsunari (1564–1651), a cousin of Tokugawa Ieyasu, became the first of the Tokugawa house’s close retainers, the so-called fudai daimyō, to be relocated to this strategically important area.
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Tiba Castle
The founder of the Chiba clan is considered to be Chiba Tsunesige (1083–1180), who in 1126 moved his residence to the Inohana area and built a strongly fortified stronghold there. Although Tsunesige himself came from the Taira clan, the Chiba clan later supported Minamoto no Yoritomo, the future founder of the first shogunate.
