Matsuyama and Uchiko

From Takamatsu to Matsuyama, it’s a scenic two-hour bus ride through the countryside past rice paddies, fruit orchards, forests, and villages.
Matsuyama is famous for the Dogo Onsen, the oldest and most famous hot spring in Japan. Once you’ve experienced an onsen, you may be hooked, especially if you have aches and pains. It’s blissfully therapeutic. The legend goes that thousands of years ago, a white egret flew down from the sky to soak its injured leg in hot water between the rocks. The injury healed, and the egret flew away. Villagers who witnessed the sight realized that the egret may have discovered a healing remedy and began soaking their aches and pains in the hot water. And so the Dogo Onsen became the first hot-spring spa in Japan. It is believed to be three thousand years old and is mentioned in ancient texts.

Painting of the White Egret

The current wooden building was constructed in 1894, during the Meiji period. Generations of Emperors and their families who frequented the onsen had their own entrances and private baths. The last Imperial visit to Dogo Onsen was in 1952, when Emperor Hirohito bathed there.
Taking the one-hour guided tour, which focuses on the royal bathing facilities, is worthwhile.

The Emperors rooms inside the Dogo Onsen.

The Emperors bath in the onsen.

Important Note:  The Dogo Onsen Tsubaki-no-Yu, where locals and foreigners can reserve a time to bathe, is NOT in the same location as the ancient onsen. They are a five-to-eight-minute walk apart. Constructed in 1953, it’s located at the end of the Dogo shopping arcade. (Make a left turn at the end of the arcade, and you’ll see it.)
If you stop locals and ask where the Dogo Onsen is, they will direct you to the historical onsen.

You must reserve in advance.
Email:  y-asukanoyu@lesp.co.jp
Telephone:  089-932-1126

Check their website for your options:
Second Floor Bathing Room
Second Floor Private Room
Second Floor Large Hall
First Floor Bathing Room

We chose the private room, consisting of a traditional tea room and a bath, which was a carbon copy of the emperors’ onsen. The water is natural hot spring water that flows directly from the source.
The room is reserved for ninety minutes, which includes bathing time followed by relaxing with tea and miniature Japanese tea cakes.

Our private te room.

Our private Onsen.

After your onsen experience, allow some time to browse the shopping arcade. It’s a great place to buy gifts and enjoy a meal.
At the arcade’s entrance is the Botchan Karakuri Clock, built in 1994 to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Dogo Onsen Main Building. Every half hour between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., characters from the novel Botchan, come out to entertain the public.

Across the road from the clock, stands the historical Iyotetsu train station, where a steam locomotive is still operating. Visitors can watch it being turned around the old-fashioned way—by hand.

The Station’s architectural design is a reproduction of the original Meiji period building. Notice the Starbucks sign on the front of the building. It’s an intertwining of the present and the past.

Uchiko:

Uchiko is a thirty-minute express train ride from Matsuyama. Miraculously, its historic district was left untouched during the Second World War, whereas Matsuyama suffered considerable destruction.
FYI: Uchiko-za, the pride of Uchiko, is a Kabuki theater only a few minutes walk from the station. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see it as it’s been closed since September 2024 for renovations and will most likely reopen in September/October of 2028
(I recommend picking up a map at the train station.)  From the station at the second traffic light, turn left onto Honmachi Street, then turn left at route 32 (See your map) onto Yokaichi district’s main street.

Stroll this quaint and charming district where wealthy families built mansions that have been restored or are currently in the process of being restored.
The Kami-Haga residence, built in 1894 without nails, is particularly opulent and impressive. It belonged to a merchant who made his fortune by exporting wax.

Yokaichi district. The mansion of the Kamihaga family, known for their wax production.

Today, there are a variety of stores occupied by artisans who produce a wide selection of one-of-a-kind items, from straw hats and light shades to blown glass, jewelry, pottery, furniture, and wax products (primarily Warosuku-Japanese candles) made by the sixth generation of the Õmari family.
Stop in at the little tea room on the main street that oozes charm both indoors and outdoors in the tiny Japanese garden.

From the Yokaichi district, it’s a fifteen-minute walk to the Karari restaurant, which overlooks a river and a bridge adorned with decorative, giant-sized fabric Koi fish that flutter in the breeze.

Kakari restaurant nestles under the trees.

Koi fish flutter in the breeze.

Stroll through the Uchiko Food Market, where you may prefer to buy a simple meal and eat outdoors with a river view.

Koi fish, or Japanese carp, are Japan’s national fish. They symbolize many things, including strength, courage, patience, success through perseverance, prosperity, good luck, peace and tranquility, longevity, family, loyalty, and friendship.

Note:  If you arrive in Uchiko around midday, you may consider taking a taxi from the station to the Karari restaurant and Farmer’s Food market to avoid an uphill walk, then walk to the Yokaichi district in the afternoon. You may need to stop and ask locals to point you in the right direction. The residents of Uchiko are very helpful but rarely speak English, so have your Google Translate in hand.