Matsusaka is a city that excels at hiding its treasures. Its city center is a haphazard collection of abandoned buildings from the 1980s, yet two steps away are the manicured hedges of the largest existing samurai residence complex from the Edo period. These residences were home to samurai warriors of the Kishu Domain who guarded Matsusaka Castle at the end of the Edo period (1603-1868). Unusually for such a site, the descendants of the samurai continue to live here to this day, and it has received national designation as an Important…
