Matsumoto Castle

Connection to Swords

Shinshū (Nagano Prefecture) has long been blessed with high-quality iron sand, pure water, and natural whetstones essential for sword polishing, and formed a major sword culture region with all the conditions for sword production in place. Shinshū swordsmiths were distributed throughout Shinano Province, with active sword-making activities centered on the Matsumoto Plain. Triggered by the Battle of Kawanakajima during the Sengoku period, swordsmith techniques were brought to northern Shinano, and Shinshū struck blade and local sword forging techniques developed with roots in Shinshū's climate and soil. The characteristic of Shinshū swords lay in their high practicality, with their robust construction capable of withstanding the harsh environment of mountainous terrain being their hallmark. Ishikawa Kazumasa, lord of Matsumoto Castle, was a man who served as the chief retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu and oversaw the military affairs of the Mikawa samurai corps, and is said to have possessed the finest eye for military equipment of his time. In the dramatic turn of his career when he defected to the Hideyoshi faction, Kazumasa must have had the opportunity to encounter celebrated swords from both the Tokugawa and Toyotomi families. The military equipment and swords that Kazumasa brought to Matsumoto are thought to have provided new stimulus to Shinshū's sword culture. Throughout the Edo period, the Matsumoto Domain patronized swordsmiths, and Shinshū's forging techniques took root in the region as a blade-making industry even after the Meiji era. The Matsumoto City Museum houses swords associated with Shinshū, and by visiting alongside the National Treasure keep, one can experience the culture of martial virtue and beauty of Shinshū. Moreover, the area stretching from Matsumoto through Suwa to the Ina Valley is an intriguing region for tracing the remnants of ancient blacksmith settlements. While Shinshū swords may yield to Bizen and Sōshū in elegance, they possessed solid quality forged in the harsh environment of a mountainous region and earned high trust as practical blades. The jet-black keep of Matsumoto Castle and the unpretentious beauty of Shinshū swords are both bound together by a shared aesthetic of "unadorned genuine strength." When one climbs the National Treasure keep and gazes upon the majestic ridges of the Northern Japan Alps, one can reflect on the history of Shinshū's warriors who forged their swords and honed their martial skills in this landscape.