Ainan Town

Stone walls up to the eaves guard homes.

Sotodomari Walls, Tōmi-mado

Photo by Reggaeman (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Hirajō Shell Mound (平城貝塚)

A mound of only oyster shells,another of only clam shells.

A settlement site with shell mounds, mainly of the late Jōmon period, at the tip of a terrace on the right bank of the Sōzu River (僧都川). The oyster mound held only oyster shells, and the clam mound north of it only clam shells. Pottery from the mixed-shell layer is called Hirajō-style and is regarded as a marker of the late period.

National Historic Site (designated Oct. 11, 2024)
Found in 1891 by Teraishi Masamichi; the extent is estimated at 170 m north-south and 88 m east-west
Made up of 5 shell mounds, a storage pit, post holes and burial pits (prefectural board of education)

02 ／ Kanjizai-ji Road, Matsuo Pass (観自在寺道)

A pass road linking Iyo and Tosa,said to be the start of the Iyo pilgrim roads.

The road runs from Temple 39, Enkō-ji (延光寺; Sukumo, Kōchi), over the prefectural border pass to Temple 40, Kanjizai-ji (観自在寺; Misho-Hirajō). The pass has long been called Matsuo Pass (松尾峠) or Matsuo-zaka, and its highest point is about 310 m. The 1,544.2 m from the border to the Ehime side is designated a historic site.

Part of the national historic site "Iyo Henro Road" (designated Oct. 15, 2018)
The pass's highest point is about 310 m
Designated: 1,544.2 m from Matsuo Pass on the border to the Ehime side (prefectural board of education)

03 ／ Noyama Dance of Hisayoshi (久良の能山踊り)

A Bon song-dance said to have begunas a memorial rite.

Said to have begun when Kajūji Motoakira and Mototaka (勧修寺基詮・基賢), lords of the Misho area in the late Sengoku period, lost to the Chōsokabe clan and retired to Hisayoshi (久良); the dance honors Mototaka, who died there. It is danced at night from July 31 to Aug. 13 and in the daytime on Aug. 14. Of 12 pieces once performed, 8 are now handed down.

Prefecturally designated intangible folk cultural property (designated Dec. 27, 2005)
12 pieces (one account says 48) once existed; 8 are handed down (prefecture)
Aug. 14, 2026, from 8:00, at Kogian in Hisayoshi Maura (town bulletin's August event listing)

Living here

A ria-coast town facing the Kuroshioand the Bungo Channel.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

At the southern tip of Ehime, the town faces the Pacific to the south and the Bungo Channel (豊後水道) to the west, and its coast lies in Ashizuri-Uwakai National Park. Fukaura Port (深浦港) lands the most fresh bonito in Shikoku and is Ehime's only bonito landing base. Kanjizai-ji in Misho is Temple 40 of the Shikoku pilgrimage.

People living here: 19,601people
Area: 238.94km²
Households: 8,889households
Rent (average for rentals): 30,691yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 20 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —10 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

Shape

Borders 2 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Ainan Town in Japan32.962°N 132.583°E

Territory of Ainan Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

19.8km

Ehime Prefecture: 宇和島市
Kochi Prefecture: 宿毛市

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Ainan Town isthis kind of town.

01Sotodomari (外泊), on a slope above an inlet in the Nishiumi area, is a village whose houses are enclosed by stone walls reaching the eaves; small windows called tōmi-mado (遠見窓) on the sea side watched boats leave and enter the fishing port. The walls were built in the early Meiji period to protect the houses from typhoons and the strong northwest winter monsoon.
02Hirajō Shell Mound in Misho holds a late Jōmon oyster mound and clam mound and is a national historic site. Matsuo Pass on the prefectural border is part of the Kanjizai-ji Road of the national historic site "Iyo Henro Road," and the Noyama Dance of Hisayoshi is a prefecturally designated Bon dance.
03At Tengihana (天嶬鼻) on Fukaura Bay stands a prefecturally designated historic gun-battery site, which the prefecture records as designed by Takano Chōei. Formed in 2004 from Uchiumi Village, Misho, Jōhen, Ippommatsu and Nishiumi towns, it is the southernmost town in Ehime.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Ainan Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗