Niihama City

Summit chimney of a would-be ironworks

Old Yamane Chimney, Entotsuyama

Photo by Dokudami (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Former Hirose Garden and Former Hirose Residence (旧広瀬氏庭園と旧広瀬家住宅)

A garden that combines welcoming guests,celebration and commemoration: Hirose Saihei's former estate.

The former home of Hirose Saihei, who worked to modernize the Besshi copper mine. The city describes the inner garden as a space for receiving guests, Kame-ike pond for celebration, and the south garden for ritual and commemoration. Kame-ike began as a reservoir built by the Sumitomo family in 1851 (Kaei 4). The main house and new drawing room are a nationally designated Important Cultural Property.

Nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty, Former Hirose Garden (designated Feb. 13, 2018)
Important Cultural Property, Former Hirose Residence (designated May 30, 2003)
Kame-ike began as a reservoir built in 1851 (Kaei 4)

02 ／ Yamane Stadium Stands (山根競技場観覧席)

Mine staff built them by volunteer labor:stands of stacked river cobbles.

Facing the Kokuryo River, the stands are 170 m long with up to 27 steps, and also serve as a retaining wall for the slope behind. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes them as a welfare facility that tells of one side of life at the mine. During the drum float festival, the Upper District's unified gathering (統一寄せ) is held at Yamane Ground.

170 m long, up to 27 steps of dry-laid river cobbles (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered Aug. 7, 2009)
Built by the volunteer labor of mine staff

03 ／ Tsugazakura Colony on Mt. Dozan (銅山峰のツガザクラ群落)

A subalpine flower grows in a colonyon Mt. Dozan, below 1,300 m.

Tsugazakura normally grows in the subalpine zone at around 2,500 m. The city's newsletter introduces the colony as the southernmost habitat in Japan for a colony of this kind. It blooms from mid to late May. In recent years it has kept declining, and the May 2026 newsletter says warming, trampling and animal feeding damage are thought to be the causes.

Nationally designated Natural Monument (designated Feb. 26, 2019)
Special zone of the Ehime Prefecture Nature Conservation Area
Blooms from mid to late May

Living here

Sea to the north, mountains to the south.In autumn, the drum floats are lifted high.

about 120,000 people

Niihama is a city surrounded by sea and mountains, and the city says it grew as a copper town from the opening of the Besshi copper mine. At the Niihama Taiko Festival, more than 150 men lift each drum float, and the city introduces it as drawing about 200,000 spectators every year. The 2026 runs are planned for October 15 to 18. The population is 109,940 (end of August 2026).

People living here: 115,938people
Area: 234.47km²
Households: 51,310households
Rent (average for rentals): 43,217yen
Healthcare: 11 hospitals ／ 81 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2003-04-01 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —28 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.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Niihama City in Japan33.960°N 133.283°E

to OsakaHighway bus265min

Travel times follow せとうちバス（瀬戸内運輸）公式『今治〜神戸・大阪線いしづちライナー』（https://www.setouchibus.co.jp/highway/osaka.html）の時刻表。上り（今治→神戸・大阪）の『新居浜駅前』の行と『大阪梅田（ハービス大阪）』の降車の行を便ごとに引いて引き算した (checked 2026-09-30). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Niihama City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

21.4km

Ehime Prefecture: 四国中央市, 西条市
Kochi Prefecture: 大川村, いの町

Niihama City isthis kind of town.

01The former Yamane Smelter chimney is a brick chimney completed in 1888 (Meiji 21) that stands on the summit of a hill (生子山) south of the Yamane Stadium, and is a nationally registered Tangible Cultural Property. It was part of a smelter that aimed to recover chemicals and make iron from the low-grade ore discarded at the Besshi copper mine; the smelter was closed after a little over six years. Locals fondly call it "Entotsuyama."
02The Besshi copper mine opened in 1691 (Genroku 4) and, over the 283 years until it closed in 1973, produced about 650,000 tons of copper. The former Hadeba Hydroelectric Power Station, completed in 1912 (Meiji 45), has been open to the public free of charge since 2023. Hirose Saihei's former home has the Former Hirose Residence, an Important Cultural Property, and the Former Hirose Garden, a Place of Scenic Beauty.
03The city introduces Sogo Shinji, who spent his boyhood in Niihama, as the man who became president of Japanese National Railways at 71 and ran the Tokaido Shinkansen. The camphor trees of Ichinomiya Shrine are a national Natural Monument, and the camphor is the city's tree. The history of the Takihama salt fields is passed on through a "hometown learning" program for the city's sixth graders.

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Niihama City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗