Matsusaka City

Descendants live on a hedged stone lane.

Gojoban Yashiki, row houses

Photo by Suikotei (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Haniwa

A large haniwa of a semi-composite shipwas found with its bow turned toward the mound.

It is 140 cm long and 94 cm high. It shows a dugout hull built up with side and vertical planks, with separately made ornaments modeled on a long sword, a ceremonial staff and a canopy set on deck. About 90 percent survives. It came from Takarazuka Kofun No. 1 (early Middle Kofun period) and became a National Treasure in 2024.

140 cm long, 94 cm high
National Treasure (designated 2024)
Early Middle Kofun period

02 ／ Library

Takegawa Chikusai, a wealthy merchant of Izawa,founded a library with his own funds.

This private library was founded in 1854 (Kaei 7). Its holdings are said to have topped 10,000 volumes, but they were scattered after the Meiji era, and about 3,000 items remain. They include a Muromachi-period manuscript of the Nihon Shoki's volume on the age of the gods and autograph drafts by Motoori Norinaga and others. The related materials are a Mie Prefecture-designated tangible cultural property (2009).

Founded 1854
About 3,000 items held
Prefecture-designated cultural property (2009)

03 ／ Ritual

Silk nigitae and hemp aratae are wovenin the Yahiroden halls of two loom shrines.

In the rite called Onzo-san (Onzo Hoshoku Gyoji), local people weave from May 1 to 15 and from October 1 to 15 each year. Kanhatori Hatadono Shrine in Ogaito-cho weaves silk, and Kan'omi Hatadono Shrine in Iguchinaka-cho weaves hemp. The finished cloth is escorted by priests toward the Kanmisosai ceremony at Kotaijingu. The rite is a city-designated intangible folk cultural property.

May 1-15 and October 1-15
Silk (nigitae) and hemp (aratae)
City-designated folk cultural property

Living here

66 minutes from Nagoya by Kintetsu limited express, 91 from Osaka-Namba.

about 160,000 people
90 min to a city centre

Kintetsu limited expresses run to Matsusaka Station without a change: 66 minutes at the fastest from Kintetsu-Nagoya and 91 minutes from Osaka-Namba (timetable). Matsusaka Station serves the Kintetsu Yamada Line and the JR Kisei Main Line. City Hall is about 15 minutes on foot, or about 4 minutes by the Suzunone Bus city loop line to City Hall-mae.

People living here: 159,145people
Area: 623.58km²
Households: 65,481households
Rent (average for rentals): 44,769yen
Healthcare: 7 hospitals ／ 142 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-01-01 に新設合併（嬉野町・三雲町・飯南町・飯高町）。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —34 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Matsusaka City in Japan34.578°N 136.528°E

to NagoyaKintetsu limited express66min
to OsakaKintetsu limited express91min

Travel times follow 近畿日本鉄道『駅の時刻表』（eki.kintetsu.co.jp。ページに「2026/3/14現在」）。近鉄名古屋駅（名古屋線大阪難波・伊勢中川・五十鈴川・賢島方面）・大阪難波駅（難波線近鉄奈良・近鉄名古屋・賢島方面）・京都駅（京都線）の発車時刻表を、平日・土休日とも 5時台〜24時台まで30分刻みで引いて列車の一覧を作り、『特急』の列車ごとの停車駅表（T7 ページ。10駅ずつで、続きは『後N駅』を追った）で、起点『発』→松阪『着』を数えた。逆向きは松阪駅（山田線伊勢中川・白塚・近鉄名古屋・大阪難波・京都方面）の発車時刻表。 (checked 2026-10-13). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 7 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Matsusaka City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

37.5km

Mie Prefecture: 津市, 大台町, 多気町, 明和町
Nara Prefecture: 御杖村, 東吉野村, 川上村

Matsusaka City isthis kind of town.

01Gojoban Yashiki is a row of samurai houses along a stone-paved lane in the third enclosure of Matsusaka Castle, with maki hedges on both sides: 10 units in the east wing and 9 in the west. It housed the 20 Kishu domain samurai of the Matsusaka castle guard and their families and was built in 1863 (Bunkyu 3). Descendants still live there, and it is an Important Cultural Property (designated 2004)
02The Matsusaka Castle site is a National Historic Site (designated 2011), and Motoori Norinaga's former house and its site are a Special Historic Site (designated 1953). Gamo Ujisato laid out the castle town, and Matsusaka cotton, a local specialty, brought wealth to a town that thrived on its merchants
03Izawa is a merchant town of Ise, where more than 80 makers of keifun (also called Ise oshiroi), a powder made mainly from mercury, are said to have operated at its peak in the Muromachi period. The tools of the last maker are a city-designated tangible folk cultural property. Nagoya is 66 minutes away by Kintetsu limited express

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Matsusaka City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗