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

Ehime Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 40,723 in 19688 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 94 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Ōzu is located of the middle and lower reaches of the Hiji River, and in particular the basin at the confluence the Hiji River and the Yaochi River in the island

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. It extends from a coastline on the Gulf of Iyo in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

to some points over 1000 meters above sea level at the headwaters of the Kawabe River, a tributary of the Hiji River.

Neighbouring municipalities

Ehime Prefecture * Iyo *

Matsuyama 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, in Japan and is also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243,541 h ...

* Seiyo * Uchiko *

Yawatahama is a Cities of Japan, city located in of Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,385 in 15,638 households and a population density of 240 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Yawatahama i ...

Climate

Ōzu has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ōzu is 15.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1644 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ōzu has decreased steadily since the 1960s.

History

The area of Ōzu was part of ancient

Iyo Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa Province (Tokushima), Awa to the east ...

. During the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, it was part of the holdings of

Tōdō Takatora was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Tōdō clan from the Azuchi–Momoyama to Edo periods. He rose from relatively humble origins as an ashigaru (a light foot soldier) to become a ''daimyō''. During his lifetime he changed his feudal master ...

, who constructed

Ōzu Castle , also known as , is a Japanese castle, castle located in Ōzu, Ehime, Ōzu, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The earliest recorded defensive structures date back to the beginning of the 14th century and were supposedly built by Utsunomiya Toyofusa. In 18 ...

on top of a previous fortification dating to the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

. In 1608, he was transferred and replaced by the Wakizaka clan, followed in 1617 by the Katō clan, who ruled the 66,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

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 ...

under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. Ōzu developed in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

as a

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

. The town of Ōzu was established within

Kita District, Ehime The is a district located in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. As of 2005, the estimated population is 20,784 with a total area is 299.50 km2. The district includes the town of Uchiko. Origin of name The name "Kita" is first found in the year 901 i ...

with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on December 15, 1889. During the Meiji and Taishō periods (late 19th century, early 20th century), Ōzu saw great economic expansion due to thriving silk and Japanese wax candle (和蠟燭, ''warōsoku'') industries. A robust timber trade also occurred during this time, with Hiji River serving as a transportation artery. However, transformations brought by the arrival of railways and motorways disrupted the balance of the local economic cycle. On September 1, 1954, town of Ōzu merged with the villages of Hirano (平野村), Awazu (粟津村), Miyoshi (三善村), Kamisukai (上須戒村), Minamikume (南久米村), Sugeta (菅田村), Niiya (新谷村), Yanagisawa (柳沢村) and Ōkawa (大川村) to form the city of Ōzu . On January 11, 2005 Ōzu annexed neighboring Nagahama, Hijikawa, and Kawabe municipalities.

Government

Ōzu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city council of 21 members. Ōzu, together with the town of Uchiko contributes two members to the Ehime Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, Ōzu is part of Ehime 3rd district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

. Prior to 2022, the city was part of Ehime 4th district.

Economy

Ōzu was once noted for its production of electronics; however, its factory by Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics closed in 2010 due to rapid deterioration in business performance. The economy is now centered on Agriculture (vegetables, livestock, citrus fruits) and forestry, with manufacturing of toothbrushes an important local product.

Education

Ōzu has 20 public elementary schools and nine public middle schools operated by the city government, and four public high schools operated by the Ehime Prefectural Board of Education. The city also has one private middle school and two private high schools.

Transportation

Railway

Shikoku Railway Company The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company has it ...

–

Yosan Line The is the principal railway line on the island of Shikoku in Japan, connecting the major cities of Shikoku, and via the Honshi-Bisan Line, with Honshu. It is operated by the Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku), and is aligned approximately p ...

* – – – – – – – – – * –

–

Uchiko Line The is the name of a short section of railway line that was originally a branch line before a section of it was upgraded and became part of the Yosan Line. It connects in Uchiko, Kita District to in Ōzu, entirely in Ehime Prefecture on the ...

* –

Highways

Matsuyama Expressway The is a national expressway in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The expressway is numbered E11 between Kawanoe Junction and Matsuyama Interchange and E56 between Matsuyama and Uwajima-Kita Interchanges under the MLIT's "2016 Proposal for Realization o ...

* * * *

Local attractions

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: -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'' acts as a transitional space leading from the entry gate to the teahouse, and generally cultivates an ...

(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. It is Japan's oldest major theater art that is still regularly performed today. Noh is often based on tales from traditional literature featuri ...

stage and was berth of the local ' (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. -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 was a major Zen figure of the Edo period and is best known for his emphasis on a minimalist sudden method of Zen which simply relies on the unborn Buddha mind. He ...

) 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

tatami are soft mats used as flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. They are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about , depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are used for training in a dojo and for competition. ...

, a rather unusual setting in ''

zazen ''Zazen'' is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The generalized Japanese term for meditation is 瞑想 (''meisō''); however, ''zazen'' has been used informally to include all forms ...

'' (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. -

(大洲城, Ōzu-jō) (four of its turrets were declared Important Cultural Property in 1957)

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

* *
Visit Ozu [Official Homepage (JP)
/nowiki>">fficial Homepage (JP)">Visit Ozu [Official Homepage (JP)
/nowiki> {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozu, Ehime Ōzu, Ehime"> Cities in Ehime Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan">Cities in Ehime Prefecture">Ōzu, Ehime"> Cities in Ehime Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan