Page 157 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

CENTR AL HONSHU  155

p Matsumoto E Matsumoto Castle
Tel (0263) 32-2902. Open daily. &
Matsumoto Castle
P Japan Ukiyo-e Museum
Nagano prefecture. * 240,000. k 7 mins drive W of stn. Tel (0263)
£ n at Matsumoto JR stn (0263) 47-4440. Open Tue–Sun. &
32-2814. _ Taiko Drum Festival (last
weekend in Jul, firelit Noh at castle P Folkcraft Museum
(Aug). ∑ city.matsumoto.nagano. 15 mins by bus from stn,
jp/multilingual/english/guide Mingeikan-mae stop. Tel (0263)
33-1569. Open Tue–Sun. &
Gateway to the Japan Alps,
Matsumoto’s main attraction is its Environs
castle, a 20-minute walk northeast North of Matsumoto,
of the station. It has the oldest five- Hotaka has views over
tiered keep in Japan (1593) and the fields of Japan’s largest
walls and moat from 1504. wasabi (horse radish) farm,
Functional yet beautiful, it is well as well as wasabi tasting.
preserved. Devices for defense The fields are a 40-minute An image of the physician Binzuru, follower of
include niches for archers, guns, walk from Hotaka station. Buddha, in Zenko-ji, Nagano
and dropping stones. The sixth
floor, with superb mountain views, from Korea in the 6th century.
was the headquarters when under a Nagano This is kept hidden, and a copy
attack, and its top floor contains Nagano shown every 6 years. The
a shrine to the goddess of the temple also has a pitch-dark
26th night who was thought to Nagano prefecture. * 380,000. £ under ground passage
protect against fire and invasion. n at Nagano JR stn (026) 226-5626. containing a “key to paradise”:
Beside the keep, reached by _ Gokaicho (showing of statue, early touching the key, positioned
Apr–late May, every 6 years – next
a covered passage, stands the showings 2021, 2027). on the right-hand wall, is
Moon-viewing Turret, added ∑ city.nagano.nagano.jp said to bring happiness in
in the 1630s for aesthetic pur- the afterlife.
poses. The castle admission Surrounded by orchards
includes the Japanese Folklore and low mountains, Nagano Environs
Museum (Matsumoto City is a skiing center and was In nearby Obuse, the Hokusai
Museum) in the grounds, fea- the main venue for the 1998 Museum is a gallery devoted
turing local geography, wild life, Winter Olympics. In the town, to artist Katsushika Hokusai
history, dolls, and tools. the prime attraction is Zenko- (1760–1849), who stayed in the
Also in Matsumoto are the ji, a non-sect temple that town as an old man. Farther
Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, an draws up to one million into the mountains Jigokudani
excel lent collection of wood- pilgrims a year. It has, Monkey Park, reached by bus
block prints, and Matsumoto unusually, always been open from Yudanaka Onsen, is famous
Folkcraft Museum, with folk to women as well as men, and for the 270 or so wild macaques
art from Japan and across has male and female chief living around its hot pools.
Asia; on the edge of the city, priests. Established in 670, it
a 20-minute bus ride away, enshrines what is thought to P Hokusai Museum
Asama and Utsukushigahara be Japan’s oldest Buddhist 10-min walk from Obuse stn.
have pleasant hot springs. image, an Amida triad brought Tel (026) 247-5206. Open daily. &

Bridge leading to the immaculately preserved Matsumoto castle
Kamakura bamboo forest and stone lantern in Hokoku-ji temple garden

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