The City
Matsumoto's castle is its big attraction, but you'll find some nice surprises as you make your way to it. Check out the old houses along Nakamachi-dori, which runs parallel to the southern bank of the Metoba River. Among the white-walled inns, antique shops and restaurants, look out for the Nakamachi Kura-no-Kaikan, a beautifully restored sake brewery with a soaring black-beam interior and traditional cross-hatching plasterwork outside. Cross over the river by any of several bridges and return to Daimyo-cho-dori along the colourful market street Nawate-dori. The castle grounds are just a couple of hundred metres north of here. One of the great pleasures of approaching Matsumoto's castle is that it remains hidden from view until the very last moment. Matsumoto-jo (daily 8.30am-5pm; Y520), also known as Karasu-jo (Crow Castle) because of its brooding black facade, makes its sudden dramatic appearance as you enter the outer grounds and approach the moat on which swans float by. The castle was started by the Ogasawara clan in 1504, but it was another lord, Ishikawa, who remodelled the fortress in 1593 and built the five-tier donjon that is now the oldest keep in Japan. You must take your shoes off before clambering up the dark, steep wooden stairs to the donjon's sixth storey (it has the traditional hidden floor of most Japanese castles) from which you can look out over the town and surrounding mountains. The entrance fee to the castle also includes access to the quirky Japan Folklore Museum (daily 8.30am-5pm), which is just before the moat. Inside, the displays include a good model of how Matsumoto looked in feudal times. If you have time, head north of the castle for around 500m until you reach the attractive Kaichi Gakko (Mon-Sat 8.30am-4.30pm; Y310), the oldest Western-style school building in Japan, dating from 1876. It's just a dusty Victorian school inside, but the handsome, pale-blue facade, decorated with temple-style plasterwork, is worth a look. Matsumoto's other main sight is the hideously modern glass-and-concrete Japan Ukiyo-e Museum (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; Y900), some 3km west of the station, which houses 100,000 woodblock prints, including works by the great masters Hiroshige Utagawa and Hokusai Katsushika. Only a fraction of the museum's splendid collection is ever on display, and an English leaflet is available to help guide you around. The simplest way to reach the museum is to hop in a taxi, which will cost around Y2000 from the town centre.
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