is a Japanese city located in Nanyo, the region occupying the southern half of

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

. As of January 31, 2020, the city had an estimated population of 42,655.

History

Ōzu emerged as a medieval castle-town along the Hiji River. The settlement became the seat of the

Ōzu domain 270px, Katō Yasuaki, final daimyō of Ōzu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now western Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Ōzu Castle, and was ruled thr ...

(大洲藩, ''Ōzu-han'') during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

. Subsequently, it flourished as an industrial post -silk, paper and wax industries- , attaining its heyday in the first decades of the 20th century. Transformations brought by the arrival of railways and motorways disrupted the balance of the local economic cycle. The keep of the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, symbol of the city and demolished in 1888, was reconstructed using original techniques and materials in 2004. Outline − End of

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

(early 14th century), first defensive structure on the banks of the Hiji River. − Early

Azuchi–Momoyama period The was the final phase of the in Japanese history from 1568 to 1600. After the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate effectively collapsed, marking the start of the chaotic Sengoku period. In 1568, Oda Nobuna ...

(late 16th century), completion of the current Ōzu Castle. − 1617: arrival of

Katō Sadayasu Kato or Katō may refer to: Places *Kato, Guyana, a village in Guyana *Katō, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan *Katō District, Hokkaido, a district located in Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan *Katowice, a city in Southern Poland, ...

(加藤貞泰) from Yonago province. He became the first

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

of the Katō clan (governors of the Ōzu domain for 13 generations, until the onset of the Tokugawa shogunate). − Meiji and Taishō periods (late 19th century, early 20th century) saw great economic expansion due to thriving silk and Japanese wax (和蠟燭, ''warōsoku'') industries. A robust timber trade also occurred during this time. (The Hiji River served as the artery articulating these transactions). − Early 1900s: Notable urban regeneration with numerous works of architecture financed by local merchants. Among them, Kōuchi Torajiro (河内寅次郎)'s Garyu Villa (a ''sukiya'' style tea house), Matsui Kunigoro's (松井國五郎) residence (松井邸, Matsu-tei) or Murakami wax producer estate (村上邸、Murakami-tei). − 1913: inauguration of the Hijikawa Bridge (肱川橋, Hijikawa-bashi). − 1918: inauguration of the railroad line connecting Ozu with Nagahama, harbour town at Hiji River's mouth (21 km length). − 1935: inauguration of the Nagahama Great Bridge (長浜大橋, Nagahama Ōhashi), a bascule bridge at the mouth of the Hiji River. The high volume and importance of river traffic required a retractable solution for the new bridge. ''Post-war political reorganization'' - 1954: political merging of the town of Ōzu (大洲町, Ōzu-chō) with Hirano (平野村, Hirano-mura), Awazu (粟津村, Awazu-mura), Miyoshi (三善村, Miyoshi-mura), Kamisukai (上須戒村, Kamisukai-mura), Minamikume (南久米村, Minamikume-mura), Sugeta (菅田村, Sugeta-mura), Niiya (新谷村, Niiya-mura), Yanagisawa (柳沢村, Yanagisawa-mura) and Ōkawa (大川村, Ōkawa-mura) villages. - 2005: January 11 neighboring Nagahama, Hijikawa, and Kawabe municipalities merged to create the current Ōzu municipality.

Heritage

Ōzu's flourishing silk and wax industries brought great wealth and prosperity, particularly at the turn of 20th century. Refinement and cultural discernment followed suit. This resulted in a thriving urban environment of various historical layers, remnants of which are still standing: - Ōzu castle (大洲城, Ōzu-jō) (four of its turrets were declared Important Cultural Property in 1957) -Nyohō Temple (如法寺, Nyohō-ji) Buddhist Temple of the Rinzai sect founded in 1669 by monk Bankei (盤珪永琢

Bankei Yōtaku was a Japanese Rinzai Zen master, and the abbot of the Ryōmon-ji and Nyohō-ji. He is best known for his talks on the '' Unborn'' as he called it. Biography Early years Bankei Yōtaku was born in 1622, in Harima Province to a samurai turned m ...

) together with Katō Yasuoki, second daimyo of the Katō clan. (Important Cultural Property since 1992). Its zen meditation hall displays a Siddhattha Gotama (釈迦如来像, Shakanyorai-zō) sculpture, flanked by elevated tatamis, a rather unusual setting in ''

zazen ''Zazen'' (literally " seated meditation"; ja, 座禅; , pronounced ) is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. However, the term is a general one not unique to Zen, and thus technicall ...

'' (座禅) dedicated spaces . -Ōzu Akarenga-kan (おおず赤煉瓦館）or Red Brick Wall. Main branch of former Ōzu Commercial Bank (大洲産業銀行, Ōzu Sangyō Ginkō) built in 1901, evoking Western architecture. Municipal Important Asset. -Garyū Sansō (臥龍山荘) Set of three tea pavilions within a lavish

roji , lit. 'dewy ground', is the Japanese term used for the garden through which one passes to the ''chashitsu'' for the tea ceremony. The roji generally cultivates an air of simplicity. Development Sen no Rikyū is said to have been important in th ...

(路地) -tea ceremony garden- overhanging the Hiji River. Built by silk and tea trade champion Torajiro (河内寅次郎, Kōuchi Torajiro) as a personal retreat. It doubled as a

Noh Theatre is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ...

stage and was berth of the local ''kaketsukuri'' (懸け造り) architecture style. Completed between 1901 and 1907. (Important Cultural Property from 2016) -Nagahama Great Bridge (長浜大橋, Nagahama Ōhashi) completed in 1935, Inscribed as Important Cultural Property by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2014, it is the oldest bascule-bridge in Japan still in operation. Traces of US forces' gunfire still punctuate parts of the structure.

Gallery

File:Ozu castle from west.JPG, Ōzu Castle File:Ozu rice paddies.jpg, Rice paddies in Ōzu File:Ōzu from atop Tomisuyama.jpg, Downtown Ōzu as seen from atop Mount Tomisuyama File:Nagahama Drawbridge in Ōzu.jpg, Nagahama's famous drawbridge

References

External links

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Visit_Ozu_ Visit_Ozu_[Official_Homepage_(JP)
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/nowiki> {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozu,_Ehime Ōzu,_Ehime.html" ;"title="fficial_Homepage_(JP)
/nowiki>.html" ;"title="fficial Homepage (JP)">Visit Ozu [Official Homepage (JP)
/nowiki>">fficial Homepage (JP)">Visit Ozu [Official Homepage (JP)
/nowiki> {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozu, Ehime Ōzu, Ehime"> Cities in Ehime Prefecture