Matsumae Castle has long been the clan Matsumae. It was built in 1606 and was called fortress Fukuyama, as the Matsumae clan in status was not eligible for the construction of the castle. Now the name Matsumae is a small town 90 kilometers from the city of Hakodate, grew up around the castle kind of Matsumae.

The first representative of the genus Nobuhiro Takeda settled on the island in the middle of the XV century. Under his leadership a few Japanese who lived on the island, united in the fight against the indigenous population - the Ainu. Nobuhiro Takeda, in particular, suppressed Ainu major uprising in 1457, and then subdued all samurai clans south of the island. It should be noted that not all members of the militant kind of Matsumae build relationships with representatives of indigenous peoples from positions of power. Thus, the fourth head of the clan Kakidzaki Suehiro able to negotiate with the Ainu of peace and trade.

Follow local daimyo Kakidzaki Yoshihiro in 1599 during an audience in Osaka changed his name by taking the name of their family estate, and since then the race was called Matsumae. Five years later, the country's new military ruler Tokugawa Ieyasu secured the originally Matsumae ownership of the island, and even a year later, in 1606 built a castle Yoshihiro Matsumae. Yoshihiro's successor in 1616 became Matsumae Kinhiro which destroyed three years later on the coast near the castle all the samurai and strengthening settlements and their inhabitants were forced to move into a castle town.

Members of the genus Matsumae played a significant role in the protection and defense of the northern borders of Japan, as well as the continuation of the expansion of the Japanese on the island and the subordination of the indigenous people. However, the right of the castle they have acquired only in the middle of the XIX century.

The castle, built in 1606, has survived. In 1637 the castle burned down, was rebuilt but burned down again in 1949. Ten years later he was again rebuilt, but in a fireproof (concrete) form. Leaving only the original main gate of the castle is a historical and cultural monument.