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Matsue (松江市) is the capital city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu.

Matsue has an estimated population of 205,402 (2017) following the merger with Higashiizumo from Yatsuka District. Matsue is located at the northernmost point of Shimane Prefecture, between Lake Shinji and Nakaumi on the banks of the Ohashi River connecting the two lakes, though the city proper reaches the Sea of Japan coast. Matsue is the center of the Lake Shinji-Nakaumi metropolitan area, and with a population of approximately 600,000 is the second largest on the Sea of Japan coast after Niigata. Matsue is sometimes called the "water city" (水の都) due to the prominence of the lakes, rivers and canals in the city-scape and scenery.

Matsue is home to the Tokugawa-era Matsue Castle, one of the last surviving feudal castles in Japan.

History
The present-day castle town of Matsue was originally established by Horio Yoshiharu, lord of the Matsue clan, when he built Matsue castle and planned the surrounding Castle town over a five-year period from 1607 to 1611. Matsue continued to be the seat of power in the Sanin Region for many years.

Matsue was first ruled by the Horio family. Horio Yoshiharu's son Tadauji died before his father, thus the province was inherited by his grandson Tadaharu. However, Tadaharu died childless so the province was passed on to the Kyogoku. The Kyogoku were daimyō from Omi and Wakasa. Kyogoku Takatsugu served Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. Takatsugu's son Tadataka married the 4th daughter of Hidetada, Hatsu. He served in the Battle of Osaka and reportedly took 300 heads. In 1634, he received the province of Izumo, succeeding the childless Horio Tadaharu. During his rule he was instrumental in engineering projects that helped control the flow of the Hiikawa river.

In 1637, Tadataka also died childless and the domain passed to the Matsudaira. Naomasa was the third son of Hideyasu. Hideyasu, daimyō of Echizen, himself was the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, making Naomasa the grandson of the first Tokugawa Shōgun Ieyasu. Naomasa made a name for himself fighting in the Battle of Osaka at the age of 14. He was daimyō of Ono in Echizen and later Matsumoto in Shinano before becoming the ruler of Izumo 1638. Unlike the previous rulers Naomasa had children and his heirs managed to keep Izumo for ten generations until the end of the Edo Bakufu. Overall, ten Matsudaira Daimyō ruled from Matsue. The most famous after the first (Matsudaira Naomasa) is the seventh, Matsudaira Harusato, more commonly referred to as Lord Fumai (不昧公). He revolutionized the administrative system of the Matsue clan which was in financial difficulties and put it back on its feet. He invested in Mulberry bushes and promoted special foods like clams that were a delicacy in Matsue. Harusato was a great enthusiast of Tea Ceremony. His Tea Ceremony name was Fumai. He founded his own school, Unshyu. He has left the Meimei-An a famous tea house still operating in Matsue. Because his influence on wagashi, Japanese sweets for Tea Ceremony from Matsue are famous, especially one called wakakusa.

The city boasts Matsue Castle, the "black castle" or "plover castle". It is one of the 12 remaining original castles in Japan. It is the second largest, the third tallest and the sixth oldest. The castle grounds include a winding path through mixed forests of bamboo, shrubs and trees, many of which are very old and identified by species. Surrounding the grounds and the castle park is the old moat, "horikawa".

Author Lafcadio Hearn taught in Matsue from 1890-1891. His house is now a museum about his life, and a popular tourist attraction in Matsue. Throughout the city there are monuments and landmarks honouring Hearn. Other museums in the city include the Shimane Art Museum and Tanabe Art Museum.

Sada Jinja in Matsue is the home to Sada Shin Noh, a sacred dance comprising a series of purification rituals related to the changing of the rush mats within the shrine. The mats are held by dancers who then offer them to deities to sit upon. Diverse dance forms are performed on a stage in the shrine accompanied by singing, flute and drums. The performance art is transmitted from generation to generation by the community. In November 2011, Sada Shin Noh was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Other important shrines include Yaegaki Jinja, Kamosu Jinja, and Miho Jinja, and there are the ruins of Izumo Kokubunji, an Historic Site.

Demographics
Like much of Japan, Matsue experienced a surge in population growth after World War II, growing more than 15% between 1940 and 1945 alone. Its population growth began to slow after 1980, and it has been steadily declining after a peak in 2000 of 211,564 people. As of 2018, there are 204,428 people living in Matsue.

With the prefecture of Shimane's population at 611,101 as of 2018, Matsue accounts for just over one third of the total population of the prefecture.

Municipal timeline

 * April 1, 1889: the original city of Matsue was founded.
 * March 31, 2005: the original city of Matsue absorbed the towns of Kashima, Mihonoseki, Shimane, Shinji, Tamayu and Yatsuka, and the village of Yakumo, all from Yatsuka District, to create the new and expanded city of Matsue.
 * August 1, 2011: the town of Higashiizumo (also from Yatsuka District) was merged into Matsue.

Climate
Matsue has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with very warm summers and cool winters. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year, and is somewhat heavier in June, July and September.

Culture
Various traditional festivals are still held, such as Dōgyōretsu, a drum parade held annually on the third Sunday of October, and Hōranenya, one of Japan's top three boat festivals that is held only once every 10 years (most recently in May 2019).

Universities and colleges

 * Shimane University
 * Shimane Prefectural Women's College
 * Matsue College of Technology

Personalities

 * Kei Nishikori (b. 1989), tennis player, was born in Matsue.
 * Shirō Sano (b. 1955), actor, was raised in Matsue.

International Friendship Cities

 * 🇺🇸 New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 1990 (commenced)/1994 (official agreement)
 * Jilin City, Jilin, China, 1995 (commenced)/1999 (official agreement)
 * 🇰🇷 Chinju City, South Gyeongsang, South Korea, 1999 (official agreement)
 * Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, 1994 (commenced)/2003 (official agreement)
 * Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, 1994 (commenced)/2004 (official agreement)

Sister cities

 * 🇯🇵 Takarazuka, Hyōgo
 * 🇯🇵 Suzu, Ishikawa
 * 🇯🇵 Onomichi, Hiroshima
 * 🇯🇵 Ōguchi, Aichi

Other
Although not an official friendship city of Matsue, there has been ongoing exchange with Dublin, Ireland since 1988 when former mayor Nakamura Yoshijirō visited the city.