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Matsuyama Castle : A Study of Japanese Bibliography

This is all about Matsuyama Castle Ruins you want to know.
Every information you get on this site will be from a credible source based on Japanese history (books for reference).

"Kōjōezu (picture in Edo Period)" from 国立国会図書館

Collected by the Inagaki family, the Toba Daimyō from the mid-Edo period to the Meiji Restoration, as materials for military studies. There are about 350 illustrations, but there is no uniformity because only illustrations of castles, illustrations including castle towns, and old battlefield illustrations are mixed.

Another typical example of castle picture in the Edo period exists, "The Shōhō Shiroezu", picture of the castle and castle town that the Edo Shogunate ordered the daimyō to create and submit,aggregating military information such as the buildings inside the castle, the height of the stone wall, the width of the moat and the water depth, etc., it also details the location and shape of the castle town and the mountain river.

Profile : Matsuyama Castle Ruins

LocationMatsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture
Also known asIyomatsuyama Castle, Kinki Castle, Katuyama Castle
Type of castleHilltop
Mountain's nameMt. Katsuyama
Elevation132m
ConditionReconstructed main keep
Designation National Important Cultural Properties
National Historic Sites
Year built1602
Abolished1873
Castle lordKatō Yoshiaki
Refurbishment lordMatsudaira Katsuyoshi
Portrait of Katō Yoshiaki from Wikipedia
Portrait of Matsudaira Katsuyoshi from Wikipedia
Family Crest from "Bukan Complete Works" (produced by CODH)
adapted from "Classical Japanese National Data Set" (Kokubunken Collection)

The family crest was originally created from the pattern that the emperor and the royal family put on the kimono, and the pattern was made into a fixed pattern, and the one attached to his own oxcart is said to be the beginning of the family crest. The warlords drew large crests on the flag-fingers, used to distinguish enemy views on the battlefield, and used by the generals to determine which warlords were active and how much.

Matsuyama Castle admission

admission fee : 520yen (Adult) 160yen (elementary school students) free: Ropeway / Lift
admission time : (August) am9-pm5:30 (Febrary 1-July 31, September 1-November 30) am9:30-pm5 (December 1- January 31)am9-pm4:30 ※main keep
Ropeway:(December 1-January 31) am8:30-pm5 (Febrary 1-July 31) am8:30-pm5:30 (August) am8:30-pm6 (September 1-November 30) : am8:30-pm5:30
Lift:am8:30-pm5 open everyday
closing period : third Wednesday of December  reference official site (japanese)

Matsuyama Castle Google Map

Matsuyama Castle Images 

One of the 12 surviving main keep

Matsuyama Castle was completed when Katō Yoshiaki started construction of a castle, and was completed 25 years after Mr. Gamō in Matsudaira's era. Large main keep has three level/three floor and Large main keep, Small main keep, Minamisumi Yagura and Kitasumi Yagura connected by a corridor, forming a complex style. In addition, several yaguras are connected by fences. Himeji Castle and Wakayama Castle are similar castles, but these are the most complex structures.
The Honmaru was constructed by cutting the summit of Katsuyama at an altitude of 132m, and Ninomaru and Sannomaru were placed to extend southwest. Hirayama Castle using such mountain ridges is also found in Uwajima Castle and Tokushima Castle in the same Shikoku region, Among them, Matsuyama Castle is especially large, and the foothills and hillsides are now connected by a ropeway.
"Nobori Ishigaki"

It is connecting Honmaru and Ninomaru to prevent them from being separated, which has a defense technique used to protect the castle from enemy attacks when Japanese invasions of Korea occured, (invasion war in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi dispatched troops to Korea to conquer China). This has been confirmed only in a few castles, such as Ōzu Castle and Hikone Castle.
beautiful tall wall stone
Tonashimon Gate and Taiko Yagura

Tonashimon Gate is The first gate (Kōraimon) leading to Honmaru from Ōte-suji(Main road). To get here from Ninomaru, you have to climb the curved road many times. Taiko Yagura standing on a 15.5m high tall stone wall that draws a beautiful curve was behind Tonashimon Gate and had the role of intercepting enemies. There is a fence of about 24m between Taiko Yagurar and Taikomon Gate, which is equipped with a gun gap and a stone dropping windows.
Inuimon Gate
Tsutsuimon Gate
Inside of Main keep
Scenery of Matsuyama city from Main keep
Mountain trail to Matsuyama Castle
Ninomaru Park
Bocchan Train and Matsuyama Castle

"Bocchan Train" running in Matsuyama City (Matsuyama Station, Furumachi, Dōgo Onsen Station, etc.) to entertain tourists.
The name is based on the fact that the characters used in Natsume Soseki's novel "Bocchan" added "Train" to the title, and people became familiar with it. (from IYOTETSU official site)
Speaking of Matsuyama, there is Dōgo Onsen which is famous nationwide and the oldest hot spring in Japan. The symbol, Dōgo Onsen Honkan, is a long-established hot spring facility that was expanded and renovated around a three-story wooden building built during the Meiji era. It was designated as a national important cultural property for the first time as a public bath in 1994.

reference official site

Link-1 : Japanese three most great hilltop castle

【west japan】Tsuyama Castle 【west japan】Himeji Castle 【west】Matsuyama Castle

Link-2 : Original Main Keep

【west japan】Marugame Castle 【west japan】Bicchūmatsuyama Castle 【west japan】Matsue Castle 【west japan】Himeji Castle 【west japan】Hikone Castle 【central japan】Inuyama Castle 【central japan】Matsumoto Castle 【central japan】Maruoka Castle 【north japan】Hirosaki Castle 【west japan】Kōchi Castle 【west japan】Uwajima Castle 【west japan】Matsuyama Castle

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