Centuries-old feudal castle and avant-garde artist both rooted in the same city!

Matsumoto is known for two things above all: a castle and an artist. Matsumoto Castle is one of only twelve Japanese castles with an original keep still intact. The city is also the hometown of Yayoi Kusama, born here in 1929, and the Matsumoto City Museum of Art holds her largest permanent collection. Together, the castle and the museum give visitors a rare pairing: centuries-old feudal architecture and the work of one of the world's most recognized living artists, both rooted in the same small city.

The Castle She Knew

Matsumoto Castle that visitors see today isn't quite the building Yayoi Kusama would have known as a child. By the 1940s, the tower had been weakened by a string of earthquakes and decades of neglect, and its keep had developed a visible lean. The extensive restoration that straightened and reinforced the castle didn't begin until 1950, around the time Kusama had already left for Kyoto to study painting. The castle she grew up seeing was older, weathered, and a little worn at the edges.

The castle standing today is the result of that restoration; on the tour, you'll walk through the same reinforced keep, climbing steep original stairways to upper floors that offer views over the city toward the Japan Alps. It's a small reminder that both the castle and the artist who once lived in its shadow left Matsumoto changed, and both eventually returned to it as something the world recognizes.

Walking Through Her Matsumoto

Walk through Matsumoto's historic downtown, past preserved merchant storehouses and canals, and it's easy to picture the town Kusama grew up in. She spent her childhood not far from here, among the fields of her family's seed nursery, where flowers and pumpkins first became the obsessive subjects of her art. The hallucinations she experienced as a girl, dense fields of dots, patterns that seemed to multiply and consume her, were rooted in this landscape long before they became known to the world.

Nawate Street is lined with small shops selling local snacks, crafts, and general goods. Nakamachi was once a merchant district of the Edo period. Craft shops and studios, including lacquerware and folk furniture makers, are run by local artists. The same streets that shaped Matsumoto's merchant history continue to support a working community of craftspeople and artists today.

The Art Museum: Matsumoto's Kusama

Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto in 1929 and has become one of the most recognized artists working today. The Matsumoto City Museum of Art, built in 2002, houses her largest permanent collection, "The Place for My Soul," making her hometown one of the best places anywhere to see her work.

Inside, the exhibition traces Kusama's work from early childhood drawings through the polka-dot patterns and mirrored rooms that made her famous, including a room of infinite reflections that surround visitors in light. Outside the museum, her towering sculpture “The Visionary Flowers”, a roughly 30-foot cluster of twisting, polka-dotted tulips, marks the entrance of the museum.

Additional Information

Meeting Location: Your tour will begin at Matsumoto Station. Your guide will pick you up at 9:00am.

Group Type: Group Tour (Private Tour Option available)

Important information:

• This is a walking tour and includes a moderate walk.
• Please note that the stairs to reach the top of Matsumoto Castle’s tower are steep and narrow.
• The tour inlcudes the visit of the Yayoi Kusama Exhibition only at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art. Other exhibitions are not inlcuded.

The tour itinerary includes the following visits:

• Matsumoto Castle - 2 hours
• Nawate Street - 30 minutes
• Nakamachi Street - 30 minutes
• Yayoi Kusama Exhibition - 60 minutes

Please note that the above times are estimates and that the tour may end
earlier or later depending on how busy Matsumoto Castle is, especially during
holiday periods and on weekends.

Cancellation Policy: To receive a full refund, cancel up to 24 hours before the experience start date in the local time zone. No refunds will be given after that time period.

Terms & Conditions: Please read our Terms & Conditions