Shimabara Castle Museum

Shimabara Castle is an early modern castle centered on a five-story main keep (tenshu) built in 1624 (Kan’ei 1) by Matsukura Shigemasa, and it reached the 400th anniversary of its construction in 2024. The main keep, rebuilt in 1964, is open to the public as a museum, exhibiting Kirishitan historical materials, folk materials, and armor and swords related to the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–38). Famous swords handed down in the Matsudaira family are displayed to the public for a brief period each year during the New Year season at the Shimabara Castle Sword Exhibition, making the castle an important destination for sword enthusiasts.

Matsudaira Family Heirloom Swords and Nagasaki Prefecture-designated Tangible Cultural Property

The lords of the Shimabara Domain passed from the Matsukura family to the Kōriki family. In Kanbun 9 (1669), Matsudaira Tadafusa of the Fukōzu-Matsudaira family took over the domain. With a period in between when the Toda family held it, the Matsudaira family served until the end of the Edo period. Among the sword collection accumulated by successive Matsudaira lords, the two swords Shinki and Shinsoku are famous blades designated as Nagasaki Prefecture-designated Tangible Cultural Properties, and they are specially displayed once a year for a brief period during the New Year season. Both Shinki and Shinsoku possess advanced forging techniques and historical provenance, and they have high documentary value as concrete examples of sword culture in early modern daimyō households.

Materials Related to the Shimabara Rebellion

What stands out among the exhibits at Shimabara Castle is the richness of primary source materials on the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–38). This uprising, in which peasant revolt was joined with Kirishitan faith, was the largest civil war of the early modern period, costing more than 37,000 lives, and it led directly to the strengthening of the sakoku national seclusion policy. In the Kirishitan Historical Materials corner on the first floor of the main keep, fumi-e, a golden cross, and devotional objects of hidden Christians (Kakure/Senpuku Kirishitan) are displayed, and the exhibits are arranged so that visitors can directly feel the weight of history. Armor and helmets are also on display, which helps visitors concretely understand the attacks and defenses of the battles of the time.

400th Anniversary of Castle Construction and the Tourism Reconstruction Memorial Hall

In 2024, the 400th anniversary of the castle’s construction, the special exhibition “Matsukura Shigemasa and Shimabara Castle” was held. At the commemorative Shimabara Castle Sword Exhibition, Shinki and Shinsoku were displayed together with swords such as Dōdanuki. The Tourism Reconstruction Memorial Hall, adjacent to the main keep, also exhibits records of the eruption of Mount Unzen-Fugendake (1990–95), offering a distinctive museum experience where natural history, castle history, and weapons history intersect.