is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

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 ...

, Japan. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 106,016 in 58803 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 210 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Saijō is in central Ehime Prefecture on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

and is bordered by the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, 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 ...

to the north. It sits at the base of

Mount Ishizuchi is a mountain on the border of Saijō and Kumakōgen, in Ehime, Japan. This mountain is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan. It is the highest mountain in Western Japan and the island of Shikoku. Outline Mount Ishizuchi is the high ...

, the tallest peak in western Japan. The consolidated city of Saijō encompasses a broad area, spreading out across the entire Dōzen Plain from the foothills of the Ishizuchi Mountain Range to the Seto Inland Sea (the former Saijō City, Tōyo City, Komatsu Town and Tanbara Town), and also contains smaller communities extending into the lower reaches of the mountains. The Dōzen Plain is crossed by several rivers, the largest being the Kamo River and the Nakayama River. The main city of Saijō is known for natural spring water. Signs throughout the city and at the city's train station call Saijō the "Spring Water Capital of Japan." Numerous fountains, known locally as ''uchinuki'', are scattered throughout the city where water is frequently bottled by locals and visitors alike. Most private dwelling houses also drill private wells to take advantage of the water. A famous freshwater spring known as ''Kōbōsui'', named for

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon sec ...

(also known as Kōbō-Daishi), gushes from the bottom of Saijō harbor and is visited by locals and Buddhist pilgrims alike to drink and worship.

Origin of name

The first appearance of the name Saijō in written record is a letter from third Kamakura Shōgun

Minamoto no Sanetomo was the third ''shōgun'' of the Kamakura shogunate. He was the second son of the Kamakura shogunate founder, Minamoto no Yoritomo. His mother was Hōjō Masako and his older brother was second Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoriie. His childhood ...

recognizing the jurisdiction over the region of the Kōno clan that was included in the ''Yoshōki'', a history of the clan written centuries later. Some regional historians such as Yuzuru Yamauchi challenge the veracity of that document, arguing that the first reliably datable extant document referring to Saijō is from the end of the Kamakura period. The etymology of the name Saijō itself is unclear. One possible origin suggested in extant documents from Kikō-ji Temple in Niihama is that the region was once divided into a "western district" (the literal meaning of Saijō) and an eastern district (Tōjō, now Niihama) by the small group of mountains that lie between the two cities. The most common narrative follows this interpretation and attributes both the name and the geographical boundaries of Saijō to the

Taika Reforms The were a set of doctrines established by Emperor Kōtoku (孝徳天皇 ''Kōtoku tennō'') in the year 645. They were written shortly after the death of Prince Shōtoku and the defeat of the Soga clan (蘇我氏 ''Soga no uji''), uniting Jap ...

of the 7th century, though this origin has been disputed for lack of concrete historical evidence.

Neighbouring municipalities

Ehime Prefecture * Niihama * Tōon *

Imabari 270px, Imabari City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Imabari city center is a city in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. It is the second largest city in Ehime Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 152,111 in 75947 households and a population ...

* Kumakōgen Kōchi Prefecture * Ino

Climate

Saijō has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Saijō is 14.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1839 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 25.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Saijō has remained steady since the 1960s.

Language

Residents of Saijō speak the Tōyo (eastern Ehime) variation of the

Iyo dialect The of Japanese is spoken by people from Ehime Prefecture in Japan. The name is a remnant of the Ehime area's historical name, Iyo Province. Accents vary somewhat by geography within the prefecture. The southern area is particularly influe ...

, which is part of the Western Japanese language group and similar in many ways to

Kansai dialect The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region (Kinki region) of Japan. In Japanese, is the common name and it is called in technical terms. The dialects of Kyoto and Osaka are known as , and were particularly referred to as suc ...

. Due to some local variations in the dialect, people in Saijō refer to their particular form of Tōyo dialect as Saijō dialect (''Saijō-ben'').

History

Prehistory

The Saijō area was part of ancient

Iyo Province was a province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa to the east, and Tosa to the south. Its abbreviated form name was . In term ...

and has been inhabited at least as early as the

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

, as evidenced by

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...

dated to approximately 6000 BC discovered in the Ichikura highland region. A large number of artifacts dating to the middle and late

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

have been unearthed on and around Mount Hachidō. The significant clustering of

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s from the later

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

in the highlands has led archaeologists to believe that the flat plain on which modern Saijō sits was either too cold or too close to the

for tomb construction.

Medieval to Early Modern

The history of the region from the

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 ...

to the beginning of 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 ...

is difficult to piece together, in part because much of the area was destroyed as a result of

Kobayakawa Takakage was a samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the third son of Mōri Motonari who was adopted by the Kobayakawa clan and became its 14th clan head. He merged the two branches of the Koba ...

's campaign to subdue Iyo Province during the

Invasion of Shikoku The was a conflict of the Sengoku period of Japan fought between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Chōsokabe Motochika on the island of Shikoku in 1585. Hideyoshi invaded Shikoku with a force of over 100,000 men in June and led a campaign against the ...

. At the beginning of the Kamakura period, the shogunate established the powerful Kōno clan as governors (''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'') over the entire Iyo Province, including Saijō. The Kōno had long held power over the region as manorial lords of the Saijō area. However, in 1342,

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromac ...

ordered the invasion of Iyo Province by the subordinate

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese Samurai kin group or clan. Ancestors # Emperor Jimmu # Emperor Suizei # Emperor Annei # Emperor Itoku # Emperor Kōshō # Emperor Kōan # Emperor Kōrei # Emperor Kōgen # Emperor Kaika # Emperor Sujin # Emperor Suinin # Emper ...

as part of a bid to consolidate the shogunate's power over all of Shikoku. The Hosokawa clan assumed control over a large portion of the area that would last until the

Warring States Period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

, and Saijō was ruled by proxy by the Ishikawa clan from Takakogi Castle in the present day Sunouchi district. During the tumult of the establishment of the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, Saijō was ruled by a series of lords until the establishment of Saijō Domain in 1636. Hitotsuyanagi Naomori was appointed lord of this domain, but died of illness in Osaka on the way to his new fiefdom. His successors ruled for two generations until

attainder In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditar ...

of the domain by the shogunate in 1665 for political reasons including a peasant rebellion. In 1670 the shogunate installed Matsudaira Yorizumi, a grandson of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, whose descendants ruled for 10 generations until the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. The geography of Saijō underwent great changes during the Edo period. The second Hitotsuyanagi ruler, Naoshige, built Saijō Castle and diverted the Kita River to create a moat. The former castle grounds now house Saijō High School, one of a few public schools in Japan contained within a moat and castle gate. Flood control projects for the Kamo River and land reclamation from the Seto Inland Sea began during the end of the Warring States Period and continued through 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 ...

, with major reclamation projects undertaken by the Matsudaira family as a means to increase their personal land holdings, 20000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' of which were lost when they were reassigned to Saijō.

Modern

After the Meiji Restoration, Saijō Domain and adjacent Komatsu Domain became Saijō Prefecture and Komatsu Prefecture, respectively, in 1871. That same year, both prefectures were absorbed by the new Matsuyama Prefecture, which would be renamed Ishizuchi Prefecture before being combined with Kamiyama Prefecture to form the current Ehime Prefecture in 1873. The area was divided into villages within Nii District, Ehime with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on December 15, 1889. The town of Saijō was created with the merger of the villages of Tamatsu (玉津村), Omachi (大町村), and Kansai (神拝村) on February 11, 1925. On April 29, 1941 Saijō merged with the villages of Iioka (飯岡村), Kanbe (神戸村), Tachibana (橘村) and the town of Himi (氷見町) and was raised to city status. On November 1, 2004, Saijō absorbed the city of Tōyo, and the towns of Komatsu and Tanbara (both from Shūsō District) were create the new and expanded city of Saijō. In 2004, Saijō experienced its worst typhoon season on record. A series of typhoons struck from August to the end of September, with Typhoon 21 (September 28–29) causing 5 deaths and 5.9 billion yen in damage. The typhoons hit the mountain communities hardest, exacerbating the gradual aging and depopulation trends of these areas. The scale of the 2004 disaster was attributed to twin factors of a lack in public disaster awareness mechanisms and environmental issues such as concrete dams and deforestation. In response to the disaster, Mayor Kōtarō Itō established a Public Safety Division in 2006 and began a partnership with the Kyoto University Graduate Environmental Studies Department in 2007 to help make the city better prepared for emergencies. Programs instituted since then include “Town Watching” and mandatory sixth-grade disaster preparedness education. Both of these programs have created ties between Saijō and the city of

Hue In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called Color appearance model#Color appearance parameters, color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a Stimulus (physiology ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, which has implemented them.

Government

Uwajima 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, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

city council of 28 members. Saijō contributes four members to the Ehime Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Ehime 3rd district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

As the extended Saijō area comprises mountain forests, farmland, and coastline, the city has a diverse economy. Logging was the major industry in the mountains Ōfuki village region, and the population of the area swelled during the postwar construction boom until the 1960s, when a shift to foreign lumber imports decimated the local industry. The accompanying population decline was severe, and the average age in Ōfuki as of 2011 is 67. In addition to logging, mining was also a major part of the mountain economy. The nearby Ichinokawa Mine was founded at the beginning the Edo period and was a major source of

antimony Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient time ...

until its closure due to lack of economic viability in 1957. Large

stibnite Stibnite, sometimes called antimonite, is a sulfide mineral with the formula Sb2 S3. This soft grey material crystallizes in an orthorhombic space group. It is the most important source for the metalloid antimony. The name is derived from the ...

crystals taken from the mine are on display both in Saijō and in museums all over the world. The mine was controlled for generations by the Sogabe family before being purchased in the Showa period by the Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., which also managed the nearby Besshi copper mine. All that remains of the mine complex today is a sealed-off stone gateway leading to one of the larger mine shafts. In contrast to the decline of mountain-based industries in the middle of the Showa period, agriculture and coastal industries grew consistently through the economic boom period before experiencing some decline after the beginning of the recession in 1991. In 1964, Saijō was designated the "New Tōyo Industrial Development City", accompanied by increased coastal reclamation projects and the development of heavy industry. This allowed the Saijō port industrial zone to compete with the already developed Tōyo City and Niihama City coastal chemical industries.

Asahi Breweries is a Japanese global beer, spirits, soft drinks and food business group headquartered in Sumida, Tokyo. In 2019, the group had revenue of JPY 2.1 trillion. Asahi's business portfolio can be segmented as follows: alcoholic beverage business (4 ...

opened a manufacturing plant in the main port area in 1996. The

Imabari Shipbuilding is a major Japanese ship building, marine engineering, and service company headquartered in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. It is Japan’s largest shipbuilder both in terms of tonnage and sales revenue, with design, research, constructi ...

Company maintains a shipyard in Saijo. The company's 800-t cranes are among the largest of their kind in the world and are a major visual landmark.The coastal area of Saijō forms the largest industrial zone in Shikoku, and covers a wide variety of fields, including materials, semiconductors, shipbuilding, beverages, power generation, and steel. The value of industrial shipments from Saijō is larger than that of Kochi Prefecture as a whole. Away from the coastline,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

operates its Shikoku bottling plant in Komatsu. Panasonic Healthcare had a factory in the Iioka area that closed in 2013. The Saijo Plain in the center of the city, which is located downstream of the Kamo and Nakayama river systems, is known as a breadbasket, with production flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees, making it one of the leading agricultural areas in Ehime Prefecture. Saijō's farms and orchards produce many varieties of crops, and the region is particularly known for producing the herbs used in the traditional spring porridge

nanakusa-no-sekku The Festival of Seven Herbs or ''Nanakusa no sekku'' ( ja, ) is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge (七草粥, ''nanakusa-gayu'', lit. "7 Herbs Rice-Congee") on January 7 ('' Jinjitsu''); one of the ''Gosekk ...

, eggplant, roses, persimmons, and spinach. The Japan Agricultural (JA) Group operates several permanent farmers' markets in the Saijō region.

Education

Saijō has 26 public elementary schools and ten public middle schools operated by the city government. The city has five public high schools operated by the Ehime Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

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 ...

* - - - - - -

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 ...

Imabari-Komatsu Expressway * * * *

Ports

*Port of Toyo

Sister cities

Baoding Baoding (), formerly known as Baozhou and Qingyuan, is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2010 census, Baoding City had 11,194,382 inhabitants out of which 2,176,857 lived in the b ...

, China

Local attractions

Festivals

Saijō is famous for its three fall festivals, held annually from October 14–17, which feature over 100 hand-carried wooden floats known as ''danjiri'' or ''taikodai'' (depending on the festival) that belong to neighborhood associations across the city. These floats are up to 5 meters tall and weigh between 600 and 800 kilograms. The festivals have been celebrated since the Edo period. Saijō's festivals are known as the Iwaoka Shrine Festival (Oct. 14–15), Isono Shrine Festival (Oct. 15–16), and Iizumi Shrine Festival (Oct. 16–17), with the largest number of ''danjiri'' (over 80) taking part in the Isono Shrine Festival. The Isono Shrine Festival begins at midnight of the 15th with a ceremony at Isono Shrine inviting a god into the portable shrine known as the ''Goshinyō'', after which the ''danjiri'' and four two-wheeled ''mikoshi'' roam the city for two days. The float-bearers wear traditional outfits and sing a local variation of the ''Ise Ondo'', signifying the region's historical relationship to

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inn ...

in Mie Prefecture. The festival ends with the ''kawa-iri'', where the ''Goshinyō'' and 11 ''danjiri'' are carried into the Kamogawa River while the other floats keep watch from the bank. File:Saijou_danjiri.JPG, A ''danjiri'' float in Saijō's fall harvest festival File:Isono miyairi 01.JPG, The ''kawa-iri'' portion of the Isono Shrine Festival.

Points of interest

;The Railway History Park in Saijō This museum located next to Iyo-Saijō Station houses a first-generation 0 Series Shinkansen bullet train car and a

JNR Class DF50 The is a class of Bo-Bo-Bo wheel arrangement diesel-electric locomotives operated by Japanese National Railways (JNR) in Japan from 1957 until 1983. Variants DF50-0 The first batch of 65 locomotives was built between 1957 and 1962 with Sulz ...

diesel locomotive (No. DF50 1), as well as exhibits detailing the history of railways in Shikoku. In July 2014, a new South Wing opened, featuring a Class C57 steam locomotive, a KiHa 65 express diesel multiple unit train car, a

Class DE10 The is a class of Japanese C-B wheel arrangement diesel-hydraulic locomotives. 708 locomotives were built between 1966 and 1978. , 138 locomotives remained in operation. Variants DE10-0 subclass 158 DE10-0 locomotives were built with steam ...

diesel locomotive, and one car of the former experimental

Gauge Change Train The Gauge Change Train (GCT) or is the name given to a Japanese project started in 1994 to develop a high-speed train with variable gauge axles to allow inter-running between the Shinkansen network, and the narrow gauge regional rail network. ...

capable of running on both express and Shinkansen tracks. Located next to the museum is the Shinji Sogō Memorial Museum and Saijo's Tourist Information Center. A life-size ''danjiri'' float can be viewed year-round in the tourist information center. ;Shikoku Pilgrimage The Saijō area is home to five Buddhist temples of the 88-temple

Shikoku Pilgrimage The or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (''Kōbō Daishi'') on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long histor ...

: Yokomine-ji, Kōon-ji, Hōju-ji, Kichijō-ji, and Maegami-ji. ;Ioki Memorial Museum Located next to Saijō High School in the city's center, this museum displays biographical artifacts and sculptures by the famous sculptor and Saijō-native Ioki Itō (1918-1992). The museum possesses most of his award-winning pieces, and over 40 of Ioki's other sculptures can be viewed outdoors in various places around Saijō. ;Ishizuchi Shrine Ishizuchi Shrine consists of a complex of four shrines located on Mount Ishizuchi. The main shrine is situated at the base of the mountain, and there are shrines on the summit and near the landing of the Ishizuchi Ropeway. Constructed to venerate the mountain itself, the Ishizuchi cult dates back to the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

. The main shrine was built in the Meiji period after the shinbutsu bunri (the state enforced separation of Shinto and Buddhism) caused nearby Maegami-ji Temple to lose its status as headquarters for Ishizuchi worship. Ishizuchi Shrine holds a 10-day ceremony and festival beginning on July 1 to mark the official opening of climbing season. ;Saijō Archaeological History Museum This three-story building located in the "Citizen's Forest" on Mount Hachidō displays artifacts unearthed in the region, the oldest holdings being pottery and tools dating back to the

. The third floor features a gallery for special exhibitions, and visitors can see as far as the

Nishiseto Expressway The , often called the is an expressway in Japan that connects Onomichi, Hiroshima and Imabari, Ehime, going through nine of the Geiyo Islands, including Ōshima, Ōmishima, and Innoshima. The road and multiple bridges crossing across the Set ...

from the museum balcony. Two Yayoi period dwellings were reconstructed on the top of Mount Hachidō and are accessible via several trails leaving from the museum. The exterior of the museum is illuminated at night. ;Nishiyama Kōryū-ji One of the designated "20 Sacred Places of Shikoku", areas associated with

but not part of the 88-temple pilgrimage, this

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

temple is renowned in Shikoku for its fall foliage. It is located in Tanbara on the eastern side of the Takanawa mountain range. ;Horseshoe crabs The Saijō area is known for

Tachypleus tridentatus ''Tachypleus tridentatus'', commonly known as the Chinese horseshoe crab, Japanese horseshoe crab, or tri-spine horseshoe crab, is a species of horseshoe crab found in Southeast and East Asia, with records from China, Indonesia, Japan, South Kore ...

, an Asian species of

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to arachn ...

. This species is known by the common name "helmet crabs" (''kabutogani''). The Tōyo Cultural Center features an exhibit on the crabs and several live specimens on display. A mascot character named "Kabuchan", a horseshoe crab with a heart on its underside, was created in Saijō. File:四国鉄道文化館で展示されているDF50-1.JPG, Exhibits inside the Railway History Park File:Maegamiji 03.JPG, Maegami-ji Temple File:Ishizuchi jinja shrine-Kuchinomiya.jpg, Ishizuchi Shrine, main shrine File:Nishiyama Koryuji 13.JPG, Nishiyama Kōryū-ji Temple File:Teizui20220406 1.jpg, A view of

phlox subulata ''Phlox subulata'' the creeping phlox, moss phlox, moss pink or mountain phlox, is a species of flowering plant in the family Polemoniaceae, native to eastern and central USA, and widely cultivated. The odor given off by the plants may be mista ...

in Teizui hill, a backyard in

Notable people from Saijō

Kaori Manabe is a Japanese talent, gravure idol and actress. She was born on May 31, 1980 in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Personal life On June 26, 2015, it was announced that Manabe married rock musician Kazuya Yoshii and was pregnant with his child and due t ...

, television personality and model (born 1980) *

Yuto Nagatomo is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a full back for Japanese club FC Tokyo and the Japan national team. A graduate from the Meiji University, Nagatomo started his professional career with FC Tokyo in 2007, quickly establish ...

, football player (born 1986) *

Yukio Seki was a Japanese naval aviator of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. As a kamikaze pilot, Lieutenant Seki led one of the three fighter groups of the second official kamikaze attack in World War II (the first official attack was an u ...

, leader of the "Shikishima-tai" squadron, one of the first

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

units (1921-1944) *

Shinji Sogō was the fourth president of the Japanese National Railways (JNR), and is credited with the creation of the first "bullet train", the Tōkaidō Shinkansen. Born in Niihama, Ehime, Shikoku, in 1884, Shinji Sogo graduated from the Faculty of Law ...

, credited with the creation of the

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...

, second mayor of Saijo (1884-1981) *

Nobutaka Taguchi is a retired Japanese breaststroke swimmer. He competed in the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke and 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics and won two medals in 1972, a gold in the 100 m and a bronze in the 200 m events. His bre ...

, Gold medalist in the 100 m breaststroke at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

(born 1951 in Tōyo)
Great Men of Ehime: Taguchi Nobutaka
'', Ehime Prefectural Lifelong Learning Center" *

Jujiro Wada Jujiro Wada (Japanese: Wada Jujiro) (ca. 1872-5 March 1937) was a Japanese adventurer and entrepreneur who achieved fame for his exploits in turn-of-the-20th-century Alaska and Yukon Territory. Early life According to his own account, Wada was bo ...

, was an adventurer, entrepreneur, and prospector (1872-5 March 1937)

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saijo, Ehime Cities in Ehime Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan