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Samurai Experience: Matsumoto Castle Tour & Sword Fighting
4.9
60 Ratings
Matsumoto
Explore Matsumoto Castle and master samurai sword fighting in an immersive historical experience. Learn, dress, and fight like a true samurai!
Explore Matsumoto Castle and master samurai sword fighting in an immersive historical experience. Learn, dress, and fight like a true samurai!
Duration:
3 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
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Matsumoto Castle - Matsumoto Castle is one of five castles designated as ‘National Treasures of Japan’ and the oldest castle donjon remaining in Japan. Construction began in 1592 of the elegant black and white structure with its three turrets. Because of the elegant black walls, Matsumoto Castle is sometimes called ‘Crow Castle’.
Please note that…
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Matsumoto Castle - Matsumoto Castle is one of five castles designated as ‘National Treasures of Japan’ and the oldest castle donjon remaining in Japan. Construction began in 1592 of the elegant black and white structure with its three turrets. Because of the elegant black walls, Matsumoto Castle is sometimes called ‘Crow Castle’.
Please note that the stairs to reach the top of Matsumoto Castle’s tower are steep and narrow. - Nakamachi Kurassic-kan - Here is the Samurai Experience Activity! Learn how to handle the sword (Katana) as well as some basic samurai movement (Kamae).
What's Included
- Samurai outfits and swords rental during the activity
- Entry/Admission – Matsumoto Castle
- Entry/Admission – Samurai Experience Activity
- English Speaking Guide
- Samurai outfits and swords rental during the activity
- Entry/Admission – Matsumoto Castle
- Entry/Admission – Samurai Experience Activity
- English Speaking Guide
What's Not Included
- Miscellaneous fees during the activity (meals, snacks, souvenirs etc.)
- Insurance (Travel Insurance, Private Insurance, etc…)
- Miscellaneous fees during the activity (meals, snacks, souvenirs etc.)
- Insurance (Travel Insurance, Private Insurance, etc…)
Additional Information
Your chance to become a Samurai while visiting Matsumoto Castle!
What better place to have your samurai experience than in a city with an authentic castle from the feudal era?
First take a tour of Matsumoto Castle designated a “National Treasure” of Japan due to its well-preserved original structure! During the tour, you will learn about the Matsumoto…
Your chance to become a Samurai while visiting Matsumoto Castle!
What better place to have your samurai experience than in a city with an authentic castle from the feudal era?
First take a tour of Matsumoto Castle designated a “National Treasure” of Japan due to its well-preserved original structure! During the tour, you will learn about the Matsumoto Samurai lords, the history of Matsumoto City and even some of the castle’s defensive strategies.
Then experience a live hands-on Samurai Sword Fighting activity! A Master Samurai will teach you some of these ancient fighting techniques. You can choose your own colors for your outfit which consists of a yukata (light kimono), hakama (wide-leg pants), and obi (belt). You can even select your swords!
The stage and the atmosphere of the place is bound to take you on a realistic journey back in time. The perfect setting for a complete immersion into this slice of Japanese history!
Location
Matsumoto Station
Tour begins at Matsumoto Station at the front of the JR Line ticket office / Starbucks Coffee inside the station (2F)
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(60 Ratings)
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Bossman221
Aug 29, 2025
Made my day! - Really enjoyed the whole experience with an excellent knowledgeable and friendly guide. The swordmaster teacher was amazing! Her attention to detail and respect for the craft felt like I was learning the ways of real Samurais of old.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ryan_b
Aug 2, 2025
Awesome experience - Fantastic experience. Our guide for the castle was very knowledgeable and friendly, she moved at the perfect pace for us. The samurai experience was fantastic! Instructors were great and our teenage kids had a blast!!
Review provided by Viator
Jennifer_d
Jul 28, 2025
Very cool experience. The... - Very cool experience. The castle was amazing and the samurai experience gave many demonstrations and instructions on how to properly perform the actions.
Review provided by Viator
Courtney_i
Jul 26, 2025
Samurai Kai - This was a fantastic experience. We’re so glad we signed up for this tour.
Tim was our tour guide around the castle and he was knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. The castle was everything we hoped for. Watch out for the steps! They are steep and narrow and we would not recommend this tour for the elderly or people with mobility issues.
We followed our castle visit up with Samurai Kai. Kai was very knowledgeable and a terrific instructor. We dressed up as samurai, selected our swords and got down to business. Kai taught us about sheathing and unsheathing the sword as well as offensive and defensive tactics. After the instruction we acted out a samurai assault scenario. My boyfriend and son finally got to live out their dreams of being samurai.
Kai went above and beyond. While we were with him a thunderous downpour began. He called us a cab and made sure we had a safe, dry place to wait.
The whole family loved this excursion!
Review provided by Viator
Ben_u
Jul 6, 2025
Do not miss this experience!!! - This was SO great!! We don’t normally do a lot of guided tours because they often feel a little touristy but this one is a must do especially with kids maybe 7 yrs old or more. It happened to be our son’s 12th birthday this day and it was an unforgettable experience for him. Our guide, Matt, lived in Matsumoto but was from England originally. He was an active participant in some of the cultural groups related to the castle (the historical gun/samurai reenactment and shooting team) so he knew EVERYTHING about the castle and the samurai who used to defend it. Superb level of information, super patient, and not a single one of our inquisitive 14-year-old’s questions went unanswered. Our group was two families of 4 and was a great size. Matt was also very willing to offer recommendations (without kickbacks - so they were very genuine) for cafes, food spots, and other fun attractions.
We gained so much more cultural and historical information about Matsumoto through this tour than we ever could have gleaned on our own.
After the castle tour, Matt took us over to the samurai experience a few blocks away. The instructor there was a lovely woman named Miharu. She did not speak very much English but it was no problem at all. Matt stayed the whole time to take photos and be the interpreter. Miharu is a current/former stunt-person and a very good instructor. She helped us dress in cotton samurai outfits and taught us basic katana handling skills with relatively realistic feeling wooden katanas as apparently you have to have a permit (and a high level of skill) to use a metal katana. Miharu was outstanding with the kids and adults alike. I cannot recommend this experience highly enough.
Review provided by Viator
Rebecca_o
Jul 6, 2025
The castle tour was very... - The castle tour was very informative and great castle.
The Sumatran experience was terrific, our instructor woman was knowledgeable, patient and excellent.
Review provided by Viator
Natalie
Jun 6, 2025
A fantastic morning in the castle and being a samurai - We had a fab morning visiting the castle and participating in the samurai experience. The castle is tall and imposing with lots of floors to ascend, Very photogenic, but the samurai experience topped it. We had such fun and really enjoyed dressing up and learning the moves. Naomi, our guide was lovely. Very knowledgeable and took great photos and videos of us during our experience. Would totally recommend this.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Karine_d
Jun 5, 2025
Very nice activity!... - Very nice activity! Our guide explained the history of the city and the castle very well. Miah was excellent for our samurai session. One of the best activities of our stay!
Review provided by Viator
Michellefy3275vz
May 3, 2025
Well done tour - It was a wonderful tour. The Castle was really interesting, and the tour guide was full of fun facts. I told him at the beginning I was more interested in architecture than history, and he made sure to show us a lot of architectural elements on the castle. It was really fun. Afterwards, my husband and I did the samurai experience. It was very unique. The teacher spoke Japanese, but the tour guide stayed during the lesson, and translated everything for us. My husband really enjoyed getting to learn new sword techniques. We both had a blast. My only complaint was looking back at pictures of the samurai experience, and realizing there was a random shirt hanging on the wall in all of them. I wish I had realized it sooner. It kind of made them look less serious, lol. After the tour, we went and got special dumplings the tour guide had recommended to us. It was a really fun experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Leon_v
Jul 31, 2025
Samurai facts EN show photos with lots of fun - Our Canadian-born guide, Tom, gave good, fun, funny EN interesting information about DE samurai DE city, castle EN histories DE samurai. He also gave nice tips about other cities in Japan. DE Samurai experience was very nice. You'll learn DE basics of sword drawing EN tuck back EN and an attack and defense movement. No practice fight, but nice pictures that looks like a nice fight.
Review provided by Viator
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