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Matsuyama is the capital of Ehime Prefecture and the largest city on the island of Shikoku in Japan, famous for Matsuyama Castle on its hilltop and for Dogo Onsen, one of the oldest hot springs in the country. It faces the Seto Inland Sea and has a population of about half a million.
The city is proud of its literary links. The haiku poet Masaoka Shiki was born here, and Natsume Soseki taught in Matsuyama and set his comic novel Botchan in the town, so the name appears everywhere from the little steam-style train to sweets and cafes. Museums honour Shiki and the heroes of the novel Saka no Ue no Kumo.
A tram ride links the castle district with Dogo, where the wooden bathhouse of 1894 still draws crowds to its old baths. Pilgrims on the Shikoku 88 temple route pass through to Ishite-ji and Taisan-ji, and a short ferry crosses to Gogoshima, an island of citrus orchards in the Inland Sea.
Matsuyama Castle stands on Mount Katsuyama in the centre of Matsuyama, begun in 1603 and one of only twelve castles in Japan that keep their original main tower. Some 21 of its structures are important cultural properties, and a ropeway and chairlift climb to the keep.
Bansuiso is a French Renaissance style villa on the slopes below Matsuyama Castle in Matsuyama, built in 1922 by Count Hisamatsu Sadakoto, a descendant of the old lords. It is the oldest reinforced concrete building in the city and an important cultural property, with marble fireplaces inside.
The Saka no Ue no Kumo Museum in Matsuyama opened in 2007 in a triangular building by Tadao Ando below the castle hill. It explores the novel by Shiba Ryotaro about the Akiyama brothers and the poet Masaoka Shiki, three men from Matsuyama who lived through the Meiji era.
The Museum of Art, Ehime stands in the Horinouchi area of Matsuyama, the old outer grounds of the castle, and opened in its present building in 1998. Its collection includes Western paintings by Monet, Corot and Boudin alongside works by Japanese artists linked to Ehime.
Dogo Onsen Honkan is the wooden public bathhouse at the heart of Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, completed in 1894 and an important cultural property. Its three-storey hall has rest rooms upstairs, a room linked to Natsume Soseki and the only bath in Japan built for the imperial family.
Isaniwa Shrine is a Shinto shrine on a hillside above Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, reached by a long stone stairway. Its halls were built in 1667 by the lord Matsudaira Sadanaga and are among the three finest examples of the Hachiman style in Japan, listed as important cultural properties.
Yuzuki Castle was the seat of the Kono clan, the governors of Iyo, in Matsuyama from 1335 until Toyotomi Hideyoshi's forces invaded Shikoku in 1585. Its moats and earthworks survive in Dogo Park beside the hot spring town, a national historic site with rebuilt samurai houses and an earthen wall.
The Shiki Memorial Museum in Matsuyama opened in 1981 in Dogo Park to honour Masaoka Shiki, the haiku poet who was born in the city. Its galleries cover the history of Dogo and Matsuyama, the life of Shiki and his circle, and the world of haiku that he worked to renew.
Ishite-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple near Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama and the 51st of the 88 temples of the Shikoku pilgrimage. It is linked to the legend of Emon Saburo, the first pilgrim, and its Nio gate is a national treasure, drawing pilgrims and visitors all year.
Taisan-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple on a wooded hillside in north-western Matsuyama and the 52nd of the 88 temples of the Shikoku pilgrimage. Legend says its first hall was built in a single night in 586, and its main hall, which dates from the early 14th century, is a national treasure.
Gogoshima is an island about 2 kilometres off the Takahama port of Matsuyama, reached by a short ferry ride. Known as an island of fruit, it is covered with citrus orchards, and its small conical peak of Iyo Kofuji, 282 metres high, makes a fine walk with views of the Inland Sea.
The Botchan Train is a replica of the little steam train that ran in Matsuyama from 1888, now pulled by a diesel engine along the city tram lines between the castle district and Dogo Onsen. It takes its name from Natsume Soseki's novel Botchan, which called it a matchbox train.
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