Main keep
Dark wood.
663highland — CC BY 2.5 · 島根県 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Raita Futo from Tokyo, Japan — CC BY 2.0 · Cyfal — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Raita Futo from Tokyo, Japan — CC BY 2.0
Matsue Castle stands in the city of Matsue in Shimane Prefecture, western Japan, on the shore of Lake Shinji. It is one of Japan's Three Great Lake Castles and the heart of the city's central riverside district. Horio Yoshiharu, the first lord of the Matsue Domain, built it between 1607 and 1611 in the early Edo period; it later passed to the Matsudaira family, who donated it to the city in 1927. It is one of the few castles that keeps its main keep in its original wooden form, the only surviving original keep in the San'in region, the second largest and, at 30 metres, the third tallest of Japan's original keeps, and it is a National Treasure. The keep rises in dark wooden walls and tiered roofs with white gables above a high base of rough stone, surrounded by pine trees and green gardens. From the windows of the top floor the view opens over the city and Lake Shinji. Visitors climb the steep wooden stairs inside the keep to the top floor, then walk the castle grounds, and can take a boat along the moats around them. Arriving before sunset gives a chance to see Lake Shinji.
Dark wood.
Over Lake Shinji.
Boat rides.
Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Yes, with a ticket.
Before sunset.