On the first floor of the castle tower of the Matsumoto Castle, there is a square depression of about 2 m in circumference and 1 m in depth.This square hole is said to be the entrance to the secret passage that connects the inside and outside of the castle tower.In 1817 (the 14th year of the Bunka era), a samurai was permitted to climb the castle tower and reported that this depression on the first floor is a Japanese wax-tree.

During the massive reconstruction in the Showa era, we actually investigated if there was a secret passage.Unfortunately there was no secret passage.It was just a hole that appeared when the supporting column of the Tenshudai (base of keep) rotted.The legend of the secret passage must have originated from this.

It is believed to be impossible to dig a secret passageway from the main enclosure of the castle through the inner moat, then the outer moat, and the overall foundation to the outside of the castle, since the Matsumoto Castle is built upon a region with water springs.