Founded in 1588 by Gamō Ujisato, Matsusaka Castle served as Gamō's home as an ally of Toyotomi Hideyoshi until his death in 1593. The castle came under the control of the Kishū Domain in the Edo Period, and the Gamō were sent back to their original home in Aizu. Matsusaka-jō originally had a three-storey tenshu (donjon), but a typhoon destroyed it in 1644. After the Meiji Restoration, the castle was abandoned and a fire in 1877 burned down its palace in the Ninomaru. Today only the impressive walls remain.