天守 (tenshu) is the Japanese word for a castle tower. There are only 12 original tenshu left in Japan. I visited them all over a couple of years and made some simple videos. You can find a map of the 12 and a little more information on this page.
Matsuyama is the capital of Ehime prefecture in Shikoku, and also the island’s largest city in terms of population. You don’t need to spend long wandering about or navigating the various tram lines to realize it’s probably also the largest by area too: it’s an amalgam of smaller townships and has filled in the gaps over the years to form a sprawling modern city, with plenty of historical sites to go around.
There’s the Dogo onsen, apparently the model for the bathhouse in Spirited Away. This was also the preferred destination for the protagonist in Soseki’s Botchan – although when the novel takes place, this part of town would have been an entirely different town altogether.
Soseki wasn’t the only literary superstar to make a home here: Masaoka Shiki was born in the city and lived here for most of his life, making Matsuyama kind of famous for haiku in the process.
The castle itself sits 132 meters high on Katsuyama, about halfway between the two Matsuyama stations. The Iyo railway company, named after the former province over which the castle reigned, operates Matsuyama City. JR operates Matsuyama. The names are similar enough to make me wonder if there’s any data about how many people make station mistakes on the regular.
Matsuyama’s the only castle in Japan that has a cable car and a chair lift. You may also be surprised to learn that these are relatively modern additions, as the original castle owner Kato Yoshiaki preferred stairs.
The castle has seen a lot of rebuildings, renovations and relocations over the years: Kato’s original keep for the castle was transferred when he was, to Aizuwakamatsu castle in Fukushima, in 1627. There was a little bit of hand-changing until Matsudaira Sadayuki settled in after Sekigahara, and finished a new keep in 1642.
This version lasted until New Year’s Day, 1784, when it was hit by lightning and destroyed. Not the greatest start to the year, I would imagine.
It would be 1820 before there was another keep built here making Matsuyama a pretty recent addition to the 12 tenshu. Not that this matters much, as it’s one of the best castles to visit out of the twelve, even if the building itself isn’t much to look at. The whole castle complex and the surrounding parks work together to create a pretty unique and interesting place to visit.
The grounds around the castle – both at the top of the hill and at the bottom – form some beautiful open areas. The views are magnificent, and I’d recommend walking down or even up the hill – don’t just take the cable car.
(But you should also totally take the cable car. It’s a literal and figurative trip.)
CityHillsAndSea 