Into Shikoku
Over the last bridge and into Ehime, Shikoku’s citrus prefecture, then about an hour’s drive down the coast to Matsuyama. Ehime takes its mikan very seriously: even the crisps we bought for the car were mikan flavour.
Lunch at Hisagoro
We hadn’t planned lunch at all. We just googled on the way, and the places nearest our car park all had long queues, so we picked Matcha Cafe Hisagoro on Okaido, the covered shopping street, and have no regrets. The shop is pretty, all wood and calm after the drive, and the food was good: soba, a tempura rice bowl and matcha. Sometimes the backup plan is the plan.
Matsuyama Castle
Matsuyama Castle sits on a hill right in the middle of the city, and the keep is one of only 12 in Japan that survived from the Edo period. You can walk up, or take the ropeway or a single chairlift from the town side. We took the chairlift, around ¥2,000 for two with castle entry: one seat each, legs dangling, gliding up through the trees.
At the bottom station there’s a poster of all 12 original castles. We were about to tick off another one, and we may have stood there a bit too long counting which ones we still needed.
From the top it’s a walk up through the gates and stone walls to the keep. The walls are huge, and the path zigzags on purpose so attackers would get lost and stuck under fire. Walking it now, it just feels like a nice uphill stroll with pine trees.
Another coin
Inside the keep, the most important stop for us: the coin machine. We collect the castle commemorative coins (the whole castle coin quest is its own post), so a new Matsuyama Castle coin, about ¥600, went straight into the bag. Then the rest of the keep: old wooden floors, steep stairs, armour, weapons and the family crests of the lords who held it.
The view from the top floor goes right across Matsuyama to the Seto Inland Sea, with the mountains behind. It’s a proper city view: you can see how the whole town grew up around this hill.
Down by chairlift again, which is even better going down, because now you’re facing the view the whole way.
Then to Dogo Onsen, and our ryokan for the next two nights.
Postcard from Matsuyama, Ehime
One of Japan's twelve original castle keeps, on a hill in the middle of Matsuyama. A ropeway and a chairlift run up from the town side.
PS: Take the single chairlift up for the view. The castle coin machine is inside the keep.