Step into the history of Matsushiro, a former castle town closely connected with the Sanada clan, one of Japan’s most famous samurai families. Meet your local guide in front of the Former Matsushiro Station, where you will receive a short introduction to the tour before beginning your walk through this historic district of Nagano.
First, walk to the Matsushiro Castle ruins. Your guide will explain how this site is believed to have been developed as a strategic stronghold during the age of the great battles between the Takeda and Uesugi clans, including the famous Battles of Kawanakajima. Later, after the Sanada family became the local lords in the Edo period, Matsushiro Castle became the centre of the Sanada domain. As you explore the main enclosure, the Taiko-mon Gate area, and the remains of the former palace site, learn how the castle once functioned not only as a military base but also as the political heart of the domain.
Next, continue on foot to the Sanada Residence. After entering the residence with your guide, discover a rare surviving example of a late-Edo-period samurai lord’s residence. Originally built for the wife and children of the domain lord as the feudal system was nearing its end, the residence later continued to be used by the Sanada family after the Meiji Restoration. Walk through the rooms and garden while your guide explains the differences between formal reception areas and more private living spaces, giving you a clearer picture of elite samurai family life at the end of the Edo period.
Your final stop is the Old Bunbu School, a former domain school where the children of samurai studied both literary and martial subjects. Learn how domain schools across Japan trained future samurai officials, and how the Old Bunbu School was especially notable for its broad curriculum. In addition to swordsmanship, archery, spear training, and classical Chinese studies, its timetable also included medicine, etiquette, and Western military studies, showing the changing mindset of Japan in the final years of the samurai era.
The tour ends in front of the Old Bunbu School. By the end of the experience, you will have explored Matsushiro not simply as a quiet historic town, but as a place where castle architecture, samurai residences, education, and political change all reveal how Japan moved from the age of the samurai into the modern era.
