Matsusaka-jō Ruins

Kansai


Matsusaka's grand castle, constructed in 1584, was short-lived: a typhoon destroyed the five-storey donjon (main keep) in 1644, while fire and modernisation gradually did away with the rest. What remains is the towering stone foundation, now a public park.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Kansai attractions

1. Castle-Guard Residences

0.13 MILES

Just south of the castle ruins is a street of original row houses built as residences for the samurai charged with guarding the castle. One (closest to…

2. Matsusaka Merchant Museum

0.34 MILES

Ozu Seizaemon was one of the most successful merchants of the Edo period, and his well-preserved timber-framed home, originally built in the late 17th…

3. Ise-jingū

11.94 MILES

Believed to have been founded in the 3rd century, Ise-jingū is Japan's most venerated Shintō shrine. It’s in two parts – Gekū, the outer shrine, and Naikū…

4. Gekū

11.95 MILES

Ise-jingū's outer shrine dates from the 5th century and enshrines the god of food, clothing and housing, Toyo'uke-no-Ōmikami. Daily offerings of rice are…

5. Sengūkan

11.95 MILES

At the entrance to Gekū, this museum illustrates Shikinen-Sengū, the ceremonial reconstruction of the buildings of the Ise shrines and the transfer of the…

6. Oharai-machi

13.72 MILES

This street approaching Naikū was developed in the Edo period (1603–1868), when pilgrimages to Ise-jingū were at an all-time high, to provide visitors…

7. Naikū

14.17 MILES

Ise-jingū's inner shrine is dedicated to the sun goddess, Amaterasu-Ōmikami, considered the ancestral goddess of the imperial family and guardian deity of…

8. Shinmei-jinja

25.07 MILES

Popularly known as Ishigami-san, this humble shrine is dedicated to the goddess Tamayori-hime and has long been a place for the area’s ama (traditional…

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