Matsue Castle National Treasure (Plover Castle "Chidori-jo" & Horikawa Moat Cruise)

Category: Original Feudal Wooden Keep & National Treasure of Japan | Location: Shimane

Perched commandingly on Kameda Hill overlooking Lake Shinji, **Matsue Castle** is the sole surviving original feudal wooden keep in the San'in region and one of only **Five Castles in Japan Inscribed as National Treasures** (*Kokuhō*), alongside Himeji, Matsumoto, Inuyama, and Hikone. Built over five painstaking years by battle-hardened samurai lord Horio Yoshiharu and completed in 1611, this five-tiered, six-story wooden citadel is poetically known as *Chidori-jo* (Plover Castle) because its sweeping triangular gables (*Irimoya-hafu*) evoke the majestic outstretched wings of a plover bird taking flight. The architecture of Matsue Castle was engineered strictly for warfare and coastal resilience, clad in black-stained weatherboard siding (*Shitami-itahari*) that resisted the harsh rain and winter blizzards of the Sea of Japan. Inside the aromatic antique timber interior, visitors can inspect ingenious military engineering feats including a 24-meter-deep freshwater well in the basement, drop chutes for hurling boulders onto invaders (*Ishi-otoshi*), and innovative iron-clamped composite pillars (*Tsutsumi-bashira*) developed to overcome the post-war scarcity of giant cedar trunks. Ascending to the open-air panoramic belvedere *Tengu-no-ma* on the topmost tier affords breathtaking vistas over Matsue water city and the sparkling expanse of Lake Shinji. Circling the citadel is one of Japan's best-preserved 400-year-old defensive moat systems. Travelers can embark on the delightful **Gurutto Matsue Horikawa Moat Cruise**, boarding small flat-bottom wooden canal boats navigated through 3.7 kilometers of verdant waters shaded by weeping willows and traversing under 17 bridges. When passing under four extremely low bridges, the boat’s roof is mechanically lowered, prompting passengers to duck playfully in unison. Along the picturesque outer moat lies the preserved Shiomi Nawate samurai quarter, housing the historic residence of author Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo), who immortalized Japanese ghost lore and traditional lifestyle for global readers.