Uwajima

For 250 years Uwajima was ruled by a branch of the Date family of Sendai, who arrived in 1615 and stayed until the end of the feudal age. Their small, perfectly formed castle still stands on the hill in the middle of town, their garden still blooms with wisteria each April, and the family’s treasures fill the local museum.

What visitors remember, though, is how different the far south feels. This is the home of togyu, bull sumo, in which bulls lock horns and push until one turns away; of the giant ox-demon floats of the July festival; of pearls farmed in the sheltered inlets; and of a way of eating tai-meshi — raw sea bream in an egg-and-soy sauce over hot rice — that is entirely unlike the version served in Matsuyama.

Uwajima highlights

• Climb through forest to Uwajima Castle, an original three-storey keep from the 1660s.
• See a bull sumo tournament if your dates match one of the few held each year.
• Eat Uwajima-style tai-meshi and hot jakoten where they were invented.
• Walk under the white wisteria bridge at Tensha-en garden.
• Drive the coast to the stone-walled terraced fields of Yusu Mizugaura.