Spot guide · Sakaiminato 境港
Photo: 663highland / CC BYMatsue Castle is one of only twelve Japanese castles whose keep survives from the feudal era, and one of only five designated National Treasures. It is black, plain and defensive rather than decorative — built in 1611 and never prettified.
A few minutes away is the house where Lafcadio Hearn lived, and the memorial museum beside it. He came in 1890, married Koizumi Setsu of a samurai family, took Japanese citizenship as Koizumi Yakumo, and wrote the Japanese ghost stories the English-speaking world knows. His wife told them to him; he wrote them down.
Forty minutes each way. Stay at Mizuki Road and the market.
One of the two, not both, unless you have a car waiting.
And add the Adachi Museum gardens if you have a driver.
Yes — one of only twelve Japanese castles whose keep survives from the feudal era, and one of five designated National Treasures. It was completed in 1611 and is black, plain and defensive rather than decorative. The internal stairs are steep and shoes come off.
Yes, on a call of six hours or more. His residence and the memorial museum are in Matsue, about forty minutes from the port, and the garden he wrote about survives. Matsue Castle is a few minutes away, so the two work as a half-day together.
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