{"id":76189,"date":"2010-01-02T14:01:45","date_gmt":"2010-01-02T05:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/welcome.city.matsumoto.nagano.jp\/modules\/xpressme\/?p=131"},"modified":"2010-01-02T14:01:45","modified_gmt":"2010-01-02T05:01:45","slug":"samurai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/","title":{"rendered":"Samurai"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a really interesting and factual discussion on the background and changing story of the &#8216;Samurai&#8217;, which doesn&#8217;t often fit with the image we have nowadays. People often ask about the castle in Matsumoto (and how come it&#8217;s still there!). Understanding what the Samurai were and how they &#8216;fit in&#8217; to Japan&#8217;s overall history goes a little way to getting at the bigger picture.<br \/>\nThe programme was broadcast on Dec. 24th on the &#8220;In Our Time&#8221; show, BBC Radio 4. You&#8217;ll find a link here <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b00pcm9f \">http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b00pcm9f<\/a>which you can listen to online or download. You will also find the podcast on iTunes.<br \/>\nOne aspect the programme touches on is the importance of local lords making a procession to\/from Edo. Just south of here is one of the key toll\/postal roads, <a href=\"\/contents03+index.id+16.htm\">&#8220;Nakasendo&#8221; and the fascinating villages<\/a> that dot its course. My own favourite is Naraijuku. Worth a visit any time of year.<br \/>\nHappy listening, and a Happy New Year!<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing\"><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><div class=\"fb-share-button\" data-href=\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\" data-layout=\"button_count\"><\/div><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\" data-text=\"Samurai\"  >Tweet<\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a really interesting and factual discussion on the background and changing story of the &#8216;Samurai&#8217;, which doesn&#8217;t often fit with the image we have nowadays. People often ask about the castle in Matsumoto (and how come it&#8217;s still there!). Understanding what the Samurai were and how they &#8216;fit in&#8217; to Japan&#8217;s overall history goes a little way to getting at the bigger picture. The programme was broadcast on Dec. 24th on the &#8220;In Our Time&#8221; show, BBC Radio 4. You&#8217;ll find a link here http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b00pcm9fwhich you can listen to online or download. You will also find the podcast on iTunes. One aspect the programme touches on is the importance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing\"><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><div class=\"fb-share-button\" data-href=\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\" data-layout=\"button_count\"><\/div><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\" data-text=\"Samurai\"  >Tweet<\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"inline_featured_image":false,"spay_email":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.9.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Samurai | Visit Matsumoto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There&#039;s a really interesting and factual discussion on the background and changing story of the &#039;Samurai&#039;, which doesn&#039;t often fit with the image we have\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Samurai | Visit Matsumoto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There&#039;s a really interesting and factual discussion on the background and changing story of the &#039;Samurai&#039;, which doesn&#039;t often fit with the image we have\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Visit Matsumoto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-02T05:01:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ogi_shinmatsu-1024x712.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/zh-hant\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/zh-hant\/\",\"name\":\"Visit Matsumoto\",\"description\":\"The Official Travel Guide of Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/zh-hant\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\",\"name\":\"Samurai | Visit Matsumoto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/zh-hant\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-02T05:01:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-02T05:01:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/zh-hant\/#\/schema\/person\/559d193fde4bd48a884bacafe0b9cbd4\"},\"description\":\"There's a really interesting and factual discussion on the background and changing story of the 'Samurai', which doesn't often fit with the image we have\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/samurai\/\",\"name\":\"Samurai\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/zh-hant\/#\/schema\/person\/559d193fde4bd48a884bacafe0b9cbd4\",\"name\":\"george\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/zh-hant\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"george\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":485987,"url":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/flea-market-at-the-former-castle-gate-just-another-day-in-downtown-matsumoto\/","url_meta":{"origin":76189,"position":0},"title":"Flea Market at the former Castle Gate: Just Another Day in Downtown Matsumoto","date":"2022.5.16","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 This Saturday I did what I always do when I have a bit of free time. I hopped on my bicycle rolled into town to see what was going on. As the weather turns warm things start happening with more frequency. There are planned events, at Shinmai Media Garden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"flea market\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/visitmatsumoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/IMG_20220514_160254_2-300x162.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":494451,"url":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/from-downtown-to-out-of-town-matsumotos-rock-riddled-landscape\/","url_meta":{"origin":76189,"position":1},"title":"From Downtown to Out of Town: Matsumoto's Rock-Riddled Landscape","date":"2022.6.20","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 If I asked you \"Where in Matsumoto can one find rocks?\" I\u2019d bet all the money in your pocket you\u2019d answer \"Matsumoto Castle!\" You\u2019d be right, of course. You\u2019d probably also not give me your money. If you correctly guess my answer to the same question I\u2019ll give you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"stones\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/visitmatsumoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_20220620_113645_4-300x107.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":457747,"url":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/soba-making-in-asama-onsen-village\/","url_meta":{"origin":76189,"position":2},"title":"Soba-Making (and More!) in Asama Onsen Village","date":"2021.12.19","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have a chance to try something out, go for it. Easy call, of course, when you're doing it as someone's guest. This past week, thanks to the folks at the Matsumoto Tourism Association and Welcome Matsumoto, I had the chance to make and enjoy fresh quality soba -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"soba-making\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/visitmatsumoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/IMG_20211213_114138-2-300x164.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":221579,"url":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/miscellaneous-en\/matsumoto-castles-east-side-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":76189,"position":3},"title":"Matsumoto Castle's East Side Story","date":"2019.2.23","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where can you find a 22-ton stone, the ruins of a fifty-room building, and Matsumoto Castle's only crossable wooden bridge?\u00a0 Answer: The least-visited, most-overlooked part of Matsumoto Castle - the eastern Ni-no-maru Garden. While this area of the castle grounds is accessible directly from the heavily-trafficked main southern entrance,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Miscellaneous&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_5509.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15952,"url":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/history\/matsumoto-city-museum-a-good-dose-of-castles-samurais-and-matsumoto-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":76189,"position":4},"title":"Matsumoto City Museum - A Good Dose of Castles, Samurais and Matsumoto Culture","date":"2017.5.3","format":false,"excerpt":"Matsumoto celebrates its city anniversary on May 1st of every year by opening all the city museums to visitors free of cost - the perfect chance to go explore a few places in the city. \u00a0I chose to check out the Matsumoto City Museum, which is right next to Matsumoto\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;History&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/34234422122_caf30a7806_k-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16105,"url":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/hot-springs\/asama-hot-springs-and-fujinoyu-ryokan\/","url_meta":{"origin":76189,"position":5},"title":"Asama Hot Springs and Fujinoyu Ryokan","date":"2017.5.29","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month I had a wonderful opportunity to visit the family-owned, traditional-style Japanese inn, Fujinoyu Ryokan, in the Asama Onsen (Hot Springs) area of Matsumoto. This particular ryokan is almost 200 years old (it's been open since the 1830s!!) and has its own natural hot spring baths in the building.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hot Springs&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/asama-hot-springs-fujinoyu_33508195833_o-590x443-1-1.jpg?fit=590%2C443&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76189"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}