Yawatahama City

Upstairs, a veranda juts over the river.

Hizuchi School, Matsumura

Photo by Yawatahamangcc2016 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Kawanazu Pillar-Pine Rite (川名津の柱松神事)

Said to have begun with villagers fearing fire,a rite that climbs a pillar over 20 m tall.

At the spring festival of Kawanazu Tenman Shrine, the youth group and men in their unlucky 42nd year cut a cedar and carry it, washed in seawater. Daima, the lead role, climbs the pillar with a torch of about 2 m on his back, swings it three times and drops it into the bonfire. It ends after 1 a.m.

Prefecturally designated intangible folk cultural property (designated 18 April 2000)
Pillar over 20 m long
Recorded in 1854 as performed together with Kagura

02 ／ Pseudotachylyte of Oshima (大島のシュードタキライト)

A fault slipped fast and melted the rock,and this "fossil of an earthquake" lies on an island in the Uwa Sea.

It is found on Oshima, one of five islands floating in the Uwa Sea. It is the very fault that caused an earthquake, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as the largest scale known in Japan. The island is a 25-minute ferry ride from Yawatahama Port.

Nationally designated natural monument (designated 21 May 2004)
Five islands, 1.82 km² in total
25 minutes by ferry from Yawatahama Port

03 ／ Uchinoura Public Hall (内之浦公会堂)

The public hall facing Kawanoishi Porthas a tatami great hall upstairs.

A two-story wooden building of 1937. The outer walls are cement-mortar washed finish, and the master carpenter was Nasu Kihachiro. Kawanoishi also has a stone wall of blue stone laid at sharp angles, from a former headman's house, and a red-brick warehouse of the former Uwa Spinning Mill.

Nationally registered tangible cultural property (registered 24 April 2001)
Two-story wooden, 108 m² building area
Master carpenter: Nasu Kihachiro

Living here

Chanpon has a city ordinance and its own day.

about 30,000 people

The population is 28,829 (end of August 2026). It is a port city called the western gateway of Shikoku, and Yawatahama chanpon was given a promotion ordinance in 2014; 28 March, the day the city was established, is its memorial day. There is a highway bus from Osaka; the 17:10 departure takes about 6 hours 45 minutes.

People living here: 31,987people
Area: 132.65km²
Households: 14,413households
Rent (average for rentals): 30,256yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 38 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-03-28 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —12 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.

Yawatahama City in Japan33.463°N 132.423°E

to OsakaHighway bus405min

Travel times follow 阪急観光バス（阪急高速バス）『大阪－松山・八幡浜線』の時刻表（https://www.hankyu-kankobus.co.jp/highway/timetable/MY/）。伊予鉄バスと阪急観光バスの共同運行・全席指定。大阪〔梅田〕（阪急三番街）17:10発の便は八幡浜 23:55着（405分）。（同 23:10発の夜行は翌8:05着〔535分〕だが採らない）。運行会社の時刻表ページに版の日付は無く、運行情報は2026-08-24付・トピックスは2026-10-01からのりば変更まで載る最新の版（2026-09-30 取得）。市内の停留所『八幡浜』は、運行会社の『のりば案内』（/highway/map/post_130/）の地図の座標 33.458323, 132.434727 が OpenStreetMap の停留所『八幡浜駅前』（国道197号・駅前一丁目・八幡浜市）と一致するので、JR八幡浜駅の駅前で、IC・高速道路上の停留所ではない (checked 2026-09-30). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Yawatahama City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

20.3km

西予市, 大洲市, 伊方町

Yawatahama City isthis kind of town.

01Hizuchi Elementary School was designed by Matsumura Masatsune, then a Yawatahama city official; the middle building was completed in 1956 and the east building in 1958, both two-story wooden. The east building's second-floor veranda jutting over the river marks its exterior, and it was designated a nationally Important Cultural Property in 2012. It is a working elementary school, and open tours are held during the summer, winter and spring breaks.
02The Kawanazu Pillar-Pine Rite is prefecturally designated and the pseudotachylyte of Oshima is nationally designated. Kawanoishi has the Uchinoura Public Hall, a registered tangible cultural property, and Meiji Bridge over the Senjo River (1930) was chosen as a Selected Civil Engineering Heritage by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers.
03On the west of Ehime Prefecture facing the Uwa Sea, it calls itself a "city of mandarin oranges and fish," and the Kunigi and Ujina districts grow Fuji persimmons. A flight memorial event for Ninomiya Chuhachi has been held on 29 April. JR Yawatahama Station is on the Yosan Line.

See the town as it is now.

Instagram@yawatahama_ch ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yawatahama City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗