Introducing recommended local information of Ehime Prefecture. Ehime Prefecture offers tourist attractions such as Shimanami Kaido, Dogo Onsen, and Kichijoji Temple; sightseeing events such as Matsuyama Festival, Imabari Jazz Town, and Niihama Taiko Festival; and local delicacies such as poems, ponjuu, and yubeshi.
Ehime Prefecture, known as the setting of Soseki Natsume's "Botchan," is a prefecture in the Shikoku region, facing the Seto Inland Sea, and was once called Iyo Province.
Ehime Prefecture is divided into three areas, Toyo, Chuyo, and Nanyo, with the climate differing between the Seto Inland Sea side and the inland areas.
Ehime Prefecture was the birthplace of Fujiwara no Sumitomo, who led a rebellion in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185) in conjunction with the rebellion led by Taira no Masakado in Kanto, Murakami no Michiyasu, a pirate general and naval commander of the Murakami Suigun, a naval force active in the Seto Inland Sea, and Kato Yoshiaki, a naval general in the Korean invasion, and other related historical sites are tourist spots in the prefecture.
Matsuyama Castle, built by Kato Yoshiaki, is a national historic site and an important cultural property, and has been selected as one of the 100 best castles in Japan and one of the 100 most beautiful historical climates in Japan. 21 buildings of Matsuyama Castle have become a popular tourist spot, and a cableway has been installed for tourists to access the castle.
Ehime Prefecture is also home to castles such as Uwajima Castle, which was built by Takatora Todo and became the residence of the Date family's 100,000-rokoku clan, and Yuzuki Castle, the site of the Kono clan's castle, where visitors can tour the castle.
Ehime Prefecture is home to the Shikoku Karst, which is made of limestone, and the rolling plateau is a popular tourist destination where dairy cows graze in the summer, creating a carpet of green.
In addition, Ehime Prefecture has many other places where visitors can relax and enjoy the rich natural environment, such as the wooden structure of Kaimei Gakuen School, Tenshoen Garden, which is designated as a national place of scenic beauty, Nametoko Gorge, which extends upstream from Meguro River, a branch of Shimanto River, and Ishizuchi Mountain, the highest peak in western Japan.
Ehime Prefecture is also dotted with hot springs, and the Dogo Onsen Honkan at Dogo Onsen, a natural hot spring that has been popular for many years, is an important cultural asset. There are a variety of hot springs with different facilities, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs and relax after a day of sightseeing.
Ehime Prefecture is known for its citrus production, and is particularly famous for its mandarin oranges and iyokan oranges, the largest producer of iyokan in Japan and the second largest producer of mikan in Japan.
In addition, the production of kiwifruit, hassaku, chestnuts, navel oranges, and other citrus fruits is among the top five in Japan, making it a veritable treasure trove of citrus fruits. Ehime's representative products such as jakoten (fish cake) and kamaboko (fish cake) are also available, and you are likely to end up spending a lot of money on souvenirs from your trip.
Dogo Onsen is said to be one of the oldest hot springs in Japan, with a history as long as 3,000 years. Known as "Iyo-no-yu" and "Kyudatsu-no-yu," it appears as a famous hot spring in the Chronicles of Japan (720), Manyoshu (circa 780), and The Tale of Genji (circa 1008 by Murasaki Shikibu), among others. It is known throughout Japan as the setting of Soseki Natsume's novel "Bo-chan" (1905), and...»
Ishizuchi is the highest peak in western Japan. As a mountain of faith, many people have climbed it to reach the summit since ancient times. It takes about 3 hours from the end of the Ishizuchi Climbing Ropeway. Altitude: 1,982m...»
The famous castle stands on the summit of Katsuyama Mountain, almost in the center of Matsuyama.It stands on the summit of Katsuyama, 153 meters above sea level, and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. Together with Himeji Castle and Wakayama Castle, it is one of Japan's three great interconnecting flat mountain castles. Construction of the castle began in 1602 by Yoshiaki Kato, one of...»
Built in 1894, the three-story building is a symbol of Dogo Onsen. It boasts a stately appearance in the midst of modern hotels and shopping streets. In 1994, it became the first public bathhouse to be designated a National Important Cultural Property.In 2009, it received the highest rating of three stars in the Michelin Green Guide Japon. In the ranking of public bathhouses, it is listed as the ...»
Ishite-ji Temple is the 51st temple of the 88 temples in Shikoku, and was built by the Emperor Shomu, and is associated with Emonsaburo, who is said to be the origin of the Shikoku pilgrimage. Located near Dogo Hot Springs, the temple is lined with magnificent halls, including the National Treasure Nioimon Gate, which attracts many worshippers. The temple is revered as "Odaishi-san. Founded in 7...»
Ishizuchi is the highest mountain in western Japan, and the four shrines are called Ishizuchi Shrine: the head shrine (Kuchinomiya) at the foot of the mountain, the Jyoshisha (Nakamiya) and the Togoya (Togoya Haruhai-den) shrines on the mountainside, and the summit shrine at the top of the mountain. The grand festival held from July 1 is particularly famous. However, women are not allowed to ente...»
The bridge is located in the area where the Iyo Suigun (navy) used to base themselves. The scenery is beautiful and the view of the Kurushima Kaikyo and the whirlpools can be seen from the bridge. It is one of Japan's three most rapid currents, and at its highest, maelstroms can be seen in various places.The Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge spans the 4-km-wide strait. It is the world's first triple suspe...»
Uwajima Castle was built in 1601 on a hill 80 meters above sea level by Todo Takatora, a famous castle builder. The castle tower was extensively renovated around 1666 by Munetoshi, the second lord of the Date clan, to its present form.The castle tower is one of the 12 most valuable surviving castle towers and is designated as a national important cultural property....»
This is a vast garden with two ponds that can be viewed on foot.The garden is over 150,000 square meters centering on a vast pond, and as many as 200,000 trees of 150 species are planted in the garden. The garden is composed of four zones: the mountain, which is covered with deep trees and has eye-catching mountain streams and waterfalls; the village, which is reminiscent of an Edo period farmhou...»
This is the Japanese garden of the Date family, former lords of the Uwajima domain. It is designated as a national place of scenic beauty. It took three years from 1862 to 1866 for Munenori, the seventh lord of the clan, to complete it in order to build a retirement residence. The total area of the garden is 11,240 m2 (one-third of which is occupied by a pond), and it is a garden of the pond fou...»
Omogokei is a valley located 9.6 kilometers upstream from the Niyodo River, which is known for its clear blue water called "Niyodo Blue". Surrounded by the steep mountains of the Shikoku mountain range, the elevation reaches 650 meters near the entrance.The valley is a V-shaped valley covered with a large virgin forest, and has a series of cliffs, waterfalls, and oddly shaped rocks. Famous spots...»
Giant bulls weighing over one ton clash in a ring 20 meters in diameter. The wild sound of the bulls' breathing, the high-pitched voices of the bulls, and the dull clash of horns against horns reverberate throughout the arena as the heated battle unfolds....»
The world's first facility to propose towel culture.The building area is 10,000 tsubo, and the adjoining European Garden is 10,000 tsubo. The museum features a variety of spectacular towel art created using towels.Cotton Road, where visitors can observe the spinning process from cotton to yarn and the towel weaving process. The largest towel collection store in western Japan with a wide selectio...»
The villa was completed in 1907 after 10 years of planning, 4 years of construction, and a total of 9,000 man-hours. The villa was completed in 1907. It has a garden and tea ceremony room with views of the Elk River and Mount Fuji, and is a concentrated example of the traditional beauty of Japanese architecture. The "temari" stones in the garden are from the garden of Tatsugoro Yodoya of Osaka, ...»
A Western-style house in the French Renaissance style built as an annex of the former lord of Matsuyama, Hisamatsu Residence.The villa was built in 1922. Before the abolition of the domain, Matsuyama City was the domain of the Matsuyama han (domain), which was said to have 150,000 koku. Currently, it is an annex to the Ehime Prefectural Museum of Art, where local artists are exhibited. The buil...»
The castle was first built here in 1331 by Toyofusa Utsunomiya of the Iyo-Utsunomiya clan, who entered the country as a guardian at the end of the Kamakura period (1192-1333). It was called Jizogatake Castle because it was built at the confluence of the Elk and Kume Rivers. Although the castle tower was regrettably demolished in 1888, four turrets survived the demolition and are designated as N...»
This castle was built in 1604 by Takatora Todo, a master castle builder.It is a coastal plain castle with seawater drawn into the three-layered moat, a rarity in Japan, and was a castle that made the most of the sea, as Imabari was a strategic point for marine transportation, with boats able to enter the moat directly from the sea. It is one of the three great water castles in Japan, along with T...»