Exploring Matsumoto Part 1 – Nawate Street and excellent fried chicken lunch

27 May 2016

We arrived at Matsumoto via train from Narai, after we had completed our planned Nakasendo hikes. Compared to the post-towns along the Nakasendo Highway in the Kiso Valley, Matsumoto is modern.

A visit to the tourist information office located inside the station was a good start to visiting Matsumoto. Maps and suggestions of a good restaurant for lunch was obtained. Special cuisine at Matsumoto was horsemeat sashimi but we told the staff we were looking for a “Matsumoto-special” but definitely not horse meat. She suggested the Matsumoto Fried Chicken instead and gave us the address of the restaurant.

Matsumoto is a compact city and most of the attractions are within walking distance from the train station. Our hotel, Richmond Hotel Matsumoto, is ideally located between the train station and the famous Matsumoto Castle.

The staff at the hotel was super friendly and eager to please. It was still too early for check-in, so we left our luggage under his care and proceeded to Nawate Dori or Frog Street for a quick visit en-route to the main Matsumoto attraction, its castle. 

Matsumoto is a “not too crowded” city with wide sidewalks and cycling paths. We could see that effort had been made to make this city more tourist friendly, with good signage for tourists in English.

A small police post called a koban and a statue of three huge frogs, crawling all over each other, and armed with samurai swords too, marked the entrance to Nawate Dori (縄手道り). Many other frog symbols could be seen on this pedestrian-only street lined with small shops selling craft, food, and pottery.

Frog sculpture at the entrance to Nawate Street in Matsumoto.

There is a history to the frog as an icon to Nawate Street. Before the Meiji era, Nawate Street was just a bank between the river and the castle. After the Yohashira Shrine was built in 1879. the river bank became an approach to the shrine. Horse carriages were not allowed to pass through and the shrine began to promote various entertainments to gather visitors and prosper.

The word kaeru has several meanings in Japanese: 買える – to ‘be able to buy’ food, drink and goods from the vendors on the street; 帰る – to ‘go home’ afterwards, safe in the absence of horses and carts; and 可得る – to ‘be accepted’ by feeling welcome in this place.

Because of the vehicle-free street, visitors at Nawate can buy (Kaeru) and go home (Kaeru) safely.  Kaeru also means frog, hence “Frog Street”.

A frog icon at Nawate Dori or Frog Street.

 

Morning at Nawate Street – not so busy and crowded

 

Yohashira Shrine.

At the side of Nawate Street is the Yohashira Shrine, well worth a look.

Yohashira Shrine.

Yohashira Shrine.

A closer look at items for sale along Nawate Street.

 

A big salted fish hanging above a table outside a restaurant along Nawate Street. Quite strange.

 

There were several eateries and restaurants along Nawate Street, but we went to look for the restaurant recommended by the Tourist Information Center. The restaurant is actually a Chinese restaurant, popular with locals, that serves excellent fried chicken along with other types of Chinese dishes. The restaurant is located two block across from Nawate Street. The restaurant’s website here.

Fusion food  - fried chicken over salad and pasta with Japanese sesame flavoured salad sauce

 

We were lucky to be first few customers. The restaurant was soon packed at lunch hour.  Re-energised after lunch, a short walk northwards brought us to Matsumoto Castle.

Part 2 – Visit to Matsumoto Castle would be the next post.

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Exploring Matsumoto Part 2–Matsumoto Castle

27 May 2016

 

Any visit to Matsumoto would not be complete without seeing Matsumoto Castle.  This castle is one of the best castle in Japan and is a National Treasure. ALSA, a group of English-speaking volunteer guides, offers free tours of the castle and we signed up for one at the castle site in order to more fully appreciate this historic building.

Our guide first explained the history of Matsumoto Castle and its unique architecture before taking us into the castle. Visually, the castle was simply stunning and very photogenic.

First impression of Matsumoto Castle. Also called “Crow Castle” due to its black on white exterior.

The castle is unique for having a main keep flanked by a secondary donjon on one side, and a moon-viewing tower on the other (with red balcony).  Only two castles (Okayama and Matsumoto) have such moon viewing wing.

From the outside, the castle appears to be 5-stories tall but it is actually 6 stories inside. There is a secret floor designed to hide soldiers.

Entrance to the castle is 600 Yen. Entry to the Matsumoto Museum, located at the caste site, is also included in the ticket price. We carried our shoes in plastic bags provided as we toured the inside of the castle. 

The inside was pretty dark, with light coming in through small windows only. The castle is mostly original, except for the old wooden foundations that has been replaced by concrete, the old wooden beams, lashings and floor slabs could be seen. The wooden beams were much lower than expected, and we had to mind our heads at several places. The samurais in the old days must have been pretty short!

 

One of the many ports for archers and rifleman to defend the castle. The wires are to protect the soldiers from external projectiles. There are also gaps in the wall to allow defenders to throw rocks at attackers below.

 

Musha-bashiri or “Warriors Running Passage”. This is wider than most other passage and is designed to allow samurais with full-body armour to run around the interior and defend the castle.

 

We followed our guide as she led us through each floor of the castle and explained the features to us. There were some weaponry and building materials for the castle on display at the 2nd floor.

Fancy weapons of the days gone by.

 

Was surprised to see these Western 6-shooters. 

 

Women were tasked to make lead shots for the rifles used by their husbands.

The path leading from the 1st to the 6th floor of the main tower consists of 7 separate stairs, separated from each other. They rise at a steep 55 to 61 degrees incline. The stairs between the 4th and 5th floor are the steepest, with each step rising about 40 cm. It is a wonder how the samurais in their armour and climb up and down these. Maybe the defenders were not supposed to go up and down these stairs during battles.

Negotiating the steepest stairs.

 

View of the red access bridge and Matsumoto city from one of the windows in the main tower.

Shachi or Shachihoko (Tiger head with fish body), used as roof ornaments in the Edo period. These fish-shaped ornaments are placed at both ends of the main roof ridge, with the male Shachi placed on the left and the female Shachi on the right. The creatures are thought to provide protection against fire, as they are attributed with the power to control rain. Olden days lightning rods perhaps?

 

The 6th floor of the tower is 22.1 meters above the ground and used as a watch tower during wartime. It offered nice views of Matsumoto city, the moat and the Japanese Alps in the distance. The 6th floor was also designed to be used as the Headquarters of the defending war lords if the castle was under attack.

 

Nijuroku-ya-shin or “26th Night Goddess of the Month” Shrine, hung at the ceiling of the 6th floor.

There is a legend connected to the 26th Night Goddess of the Month Shrine, hung at the ceiling. On the night of January 26, 1618, one of the guards on duty saw a woman dressed in beautiful clothes. Handing him a brocade bag, she told him that if the lord of the castle enshrines her with 500kg of rice on the 26th night of every month, she would protect the castle from fire and enemy. Then, she disappeared levitating towards the top of the castle’s tower.

The next day, hearing the strange story, the castle’s lord decided to build this small shrine on the ceiling of the 6th floor of the main tower where he enshrined the bag. It is believed that because the bag was deified, the castle has survived to this day. 

We then make our way down to the Moon Viewing Wing  where we spied a samurai walking towards the keep.  This costumed samurai were happy to pose for photos outside the keep.

 

We thanked our guide and went to explore the castle park and the moat surrounding the castle. The park area offers some of the best pictures of this magnificent castle. Most Japanese castles were positioned on top of hills but not Matsumoto castle. Matsumoto Castle is one of the rare castle in Japan that was built on flat ground and thus had 3 defensive moats in the old days. Now, only one moat closest to the keep remains.

 

The moat surrounding the castle is full of big carps and other fishes.

 

After seeing the castle, Nakamachi Dori (Street), located about 5 minutes walk south-side of the castle, was a good place to have a tea break. This is a street lined by several nicely preserved, old buildings, including a number of warehouse-type buildings (kura) with massive, white painted walls, a characteristic of former merchant districts. Some of them house small shops, restaurants and ryokans. This place was more lively at night than in the afternoon and was a place we came back to for dinner later in the evening.

 

 

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