Matsuyama

Ehime Prefectural Information Center (EPIC)

Internet access, study rooms, and bike rentals. It's behind the Ehime Prefectural Cultural Hall.

JR Matsuyama Station

Understand

With a population of 515,000, Matsuyama is the largest city on Shikoku, though still noticeably sleepier than cities of comparable size on the Japanese mainland. The city is situated in a river basin formed by the flow of the Ishite and Shigenobu rivers, and nestled between the Ishizuchi mountain range to the south and Takanawa Mountains to the north. The center of town is Matsuyama-shi Station 松山市駅, "Shieki" for short, south of of Matsuyama Castle, which serves as a hub for local trams, buses, and the private Iyotetsu train line. JR Matsuyama Station is a short walk west.

The climate of Matsuyama is overall mild and temperate — somewhat balmy in summer, with most rainfall occurring in late spring, and almost no snow in winter. However, the city's star attraction — Dōgo Onsen 道後温泉 — is a good time in any season, drawing serious hot spring enthusiasts and newcomers alike to its steamy waters. This public bathhouse is thought to be the oldest in Japan, a claim reinforced by its mention in the second oldest book of Japanese history, Nihon Shoki 720 AD.

But Dōgo and its surroundings are better known for their place in another classic Japanese book, Botchan 1906. Renowned novelist Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石 wrote Botchan while living and working in Matsuyama as a teacher. Although the area does not come off well in the Edo-phile's description, the town nevertheless celebrates the connection with a variety of events and displays.

Sōseki’s friend and mentor, Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規, was a native of Matsuyama and one of the four great masters of haiku. Born to a lower class samurai family, Shiki had a modest childhood. Thanks to his education and an uncle in public office, Shiki was able to enter Tokyo Imperial University to study philosophy and politics, and later became a journalist covering the Russo-Japanese War. His literary career began when he started criticizing the Edo period's iconic haiku artist Matsuo Bashō and praising Yosa Buson, whose work he felt was brief yet refined. Shiki is credited with revitalizing Japanese poetry and modernizing its themes, thus making the short verse once again relevant to modern Japanese culture.

Matsuyama's bastions of literary pride span centuries, and many of the city's attractions celebrate that heritage with unabashed cheer. In the words of one native, referring the character from Botchan not the pop star: "We don't have geisha — we have Madonna!"