I have a thing with Japanese castles and I try to visit as many different as possible.
So far the Matsumoto castle has been my favorite castle. It totally feels like a fortress, so no enemy could enter it. Even inside it's very dark and you can finally possibilities to protect this castle from one of the winodws.
You should keep in mind, that the stairs are really steep sometimes. It can get hard to reach the top.
But also from the outside this castle with the landscape around is so pretty, that I plan to visit it again on my next trip.
As one of the top 3 oldest castles which contained the Tenshu as past, it is amazing that it still be held completely.
By walking from Matsumoto JR station in 15mins, the first scene inside my eyes was the river around the castle. The river was built for protecting the castle to defend the enemy. Until now, it's still existed and you will see the fishes in the river.
What a beautiful scene as I saw the castle, river, and the willows by my eyes. It is hard to memory the beauty of the scene by taking the picture.
Before I entered the castle, there were some actors wearing the Japan's old clothes, such as Kimono and the samurai clothes. You can take the picture with them for free.
As I get into the castle, there was the smell of old wood building. It is hard to go up to the top of the castle because the stairs were narrow and the height between each stair were high and there was no elevator inside the castle. There was a expo that shows the historical things which were used for wars in Japan, such as the guns, armour, maps of the formation.
I could see all buildings around the the castle on the Tenshu, and the scene was also beautiful as the one with river and outside of the castle. It was great to decide to enter the castle by paying 800 yen and it was worth.