Matsue (松江市 Matsue-shi) is the central city in Japan and the capital of Shimane Prefecture. The area of ​​the city is 573.00 km², the population is 206,333 people (August 1, 2014), the population density is 360.09 people / km².

Geographic location
The city of Matsue is located in the western part of the island of Honshu, on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan in the Chugoku region. Belongs to the Izumo Prefectural Administrative Region
Near the city is Lake Shinji, the seventh largest freshwater lake in Japan. The lake is connected to the Sea of ​​Japan by Lake Nakaumi, through which a significant amount of sea water enters Lake Shinji. Because of this, the rare mollusk corbicura (Japanese: shijimi) lives in Lake Shinji, which is the subject of fishing by local fishermen and one of the delicious “attractions” of Shimane Prefecture.
Matsue still has a system of old castle canals dividing the city into districts, which is why it is often called the “city on the water” or the “water capital”. Tourist boats float along the canal, and boatmen sing traditional Japanese songs for passengers, which is why Matsue is often called the “Japanese Venice”. Matsue is also a port city.

Sights
The main attraction of the city is Matsue Castle, one of the oldest surviving medieval castles in Japan. This is one of 12 Japanese castles that have retained their original appearance and have not been destroyed or rebuilt. The castle was built in 1611, it is painted black, which is why it is called the “black castle”. In addition, the curved roof of the castle is similar to the wingspan of a plover, which is why it is also called the “plover’s castle” (Jap. Chidori-jo). It is surrounded by numerous canals and an old park. On the territory of the park there is a history museum, which was originally built as a guest residence for Emperor Meiji. However, the emperor’s plans changed, so he never visited Matsue, and the European-style building was given over to the museum. The castle was enthusiastically described in his works by the Irish writer and journalist Lafcadio Hearn (Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo), who lived in the city for about a year. The park around the castle abounds with lawns, which during the days of cherry blossoms are a favorite place for the townspeople to relax. When sakura trees bloom in the park, they spread on the lawns decks and have picnics while drinking sake and writing haiku poetry. And in autumn, an exhibition-competition of chrysanthemums is held on a large meadow in front of the castle. In April, the musya-gyoretsu samurai parade marches along the central street of the year, and in October the dogyoretsu parade is held – both parades complete their procession under the walls of Matsue Castle.

Not far from the castle is Shiomi-nawate Street Samurai Quarter with several preserved buke-yashiki samurai residences, tea houses and landscaped gardens.

You can also visit the Matsue Historical Museum and the house of Lafcadio Hörn.

On the shores of Lake Shinji, the Shimane Prefectural Museum of Art is located, from the platform of which there is a beautiful view of the sunset – the sun sets directly into the lake, illuminating the curved black pines on a small island off the shore with pink rays. The museum provides daily information on the weather and sunset time, so you can often see a huge number of photography enthusiasts catching good shots.

At 20 min. drive from the city center is the park of flowers and birds “Vogel”. At 10 min. drive from the center is an English garden.

When the weather is nice, you can see Mount Daisen from Matsue, located in neighboring Tottori Prefecture.

Matsue is famous for its tea culture and is the tea capital of Japan along with Kyoto and Kanazawa. The seventh governor of the Matsue principality, feudal lord Matsudaira Harusato (Fumai-ko), was fond of the sado tea ceremony, studied Zen Buddhism and founded the Fumai-ryu tea ceremony. Along with the development of matcha powdered green tea production, the art of pottery (the production of cups and other tea utensils) and the art of making traditional Japanese wagashi tea sweets flourished in the city.