The smell of fish hits you before the market comes into view. At the Matsura Fish Market, opened in the late 1970s, the unloading of aji and saba happens in volumes that have made this port the country's leading landing site for both species. The boats come in from the Genkai Sea and Imari Bay, and the work of sorting and weighing is already underway in the grey of early morning. Matsura is a city of fishermen and their routines, and the rhythm of the waterfront is not performed for anyone — it simply runs.
Beneath the fish trade lies a longer history. The Matsura-to, a medieval seafaring clan, held this coast, and their origins are traced to Kajitani Castle, a site still designated by Nagasaki Prefecture. At the Taka-shima Rekishi Minzoku Shiryokan on the island of Takashima, artifacts recovered from the seabed speak to the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century — the Takashima Jinzaki site preserving what the water kept. A research center for underwater archaeology sits alongside the museum, a quietly unusual institution for a small city.
The Tsuchiya terraced rice paddy fire festival and the Matsura Suigun Matsuri mark the calendar year, one rooted in agriculture, the other recalling the water-clan past. The coal mines of the Hokusho coalfields are gone, their history folded into the Fukushima Rekishi Minzoku Shiryokan. What remains is a port town that has shifted its weight more than once — from coal to fish to power generation — and continues to face the sea.
Where to stay
A day is rarely enough.
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The islands of Matsura, Nagasaki
What converges here
1 in this city. 15 within 25 km of the city hall.
- Matsuura City Archaeological Center
- Matsura Historical Museum
- Imari City Museum of History and Folklore
- Imari Nabeshima Gallery
- Tei-Sei-Ko Memorial Museum
See 10 more
- Sasebo City Museum Shimanose Art Center
- Arita History and Folklore Museum West
- Kyushu Ceramic Museum
- Former Tashiro Family Western-style House
- Arita Ceramic Museum
- Imaemon Museum of Ceramic Antiques
- Arita History and Folklore Museum East
- Arita Excavated Ceramic Museum
- Arita Archeological Research Center
- Hirado Kirishitan Museum
Distances are straight-line from the municipal office. Each website was checked in September 2026. Some locations © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Takashima Kanzaki Site
- Genkai
- Matsuura
- Mikuriya
- Tsukigawa
- Imafuku
- Takashimaguchi
- Maehama
- Nishikiba
- Matsuura-Hatsudensho-mae
- Hoshika Fishing Port
- Aōura Fishing Port
- Imafuku Fishing Port
- Shisa Fishing Port
- Hibi Fishing Port
- Tonnoura Fishing Port
- Nameie Fishing Port
- Funakaratsu Fishing Port
- Nakushi Fishing Port
- Aoshima Fishing Port
- Kuroshima (Takashima) Fishing Port