Cherry blossoms at Matsumoto Castle
This is Matsumoto Castle.
The admission fee, which was 700 yen until the end of March, has increased this year to 1,300 yen for paper tickets and 1,200 yen for electronic tickets.
The city of Matsumoto must be in need of funds as they are restoring the south and west outer moats, which had been reclaimed and turned into residential areas. I do not know if the newly re-dug moat will be recognized as a cultural asset.
In order to induce visitors to pay electronically, the city have made electronic tickets 100 yen cheaper than paper tickets.
The price of a combined ticket for Matsumoto Castle and one of the other facilities (former Kaichi School or Municipal museum, Matsumoto City Museum of Art ) is 1,500-1,700 yen. And the ticket for all the four facilities above is 2,600 yen. (online sales only)
It’s only been two weeks since the price increase, but the wait time to enter the main building of Matsumoto Castle on this day was 30 minutes. Does this mean that the price increase has not had much of an impact?
I have been in the Honmaru before and I don’t like to wait, so I passed.
There was a sign on the side. It said that the Honmaru garden would be open at night until April 13 (it had already ended) for an event called “Yozakura-kai" (Night cherry blossom viewing). I decided to enter here later and strolled along the Metoba-gawa River until the time was up.
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After my walk, I came back to Matsumoto Castle.
Cherry blossoms inside the Kuromon Gate at the entrance of the garden.
It was still light, so I would like to wait leisurely for it to get dark.
I circled around the garden, but it was not yet dark, so I went out once.
The inner moat to the southwest of the Honmaru was being dredged. This work will continue until March 2026.
Looking at the photo, it seems that there was quite a thick layer of mud.
In recent years, they have been explaining the status of the construction work in this way, which I personally find pleasing. I would be even more pleased if they would add a few sentences.
It was getting dark, so I went back to the garden.
The sky was still light, but I could see the cherry blossoms were illuminated.
It is getting much darker and the light illuminating the cherry blossoms is becoming more noticeable.
The sky was getting darker and the moon was visible.
The Honmaru was also illuminated and its figure became more prominent.
I had an image of Matsumoto Castle as black when I saw it in the daytime, but I realized that it has more white surfaces than I thought.
After walking around the garden for a couple of times, I felt my legs were almost at their limit. I decided to go home.
I went out from the “Taiko-mon Gate" as east side.
The last photo is a shot of the outer moat from the road.
The cherry blossoms and lights are reflected on the surface of the water. Many people were watching the cherry blossoms on the Ninomaru-Uramon Bridge.
