The area around the Yuzuki Castle Museum is both a place of learning and a place where you can sense the many layers of time that have settled into this park.

As you walk with your post-bath senses still open, history reaches you not as words, but as a quiet presence in the air. In moments like this, forest bathing gently blends with the feeling of moving through time.

From here, a calm thread of history begins to unfold as you walk through the forest.

The story of this hill reaches back to the time of Prince Shōtoku. According to tradition, when he visited the Dogo hot springs, he climbed this hill and placed a single stone monument.

The place later came to be known as Isaniwa-no-Oka. A hot spring and one stone marker—this is where the story of the Dogo hillside began.

At the beginning of the medieval period, the Iyo region came under the rule of the Kōno clan.

Their original base lay elsewhere, but they gradually came to feel that a place of governance should be somewhere people and culture naturally gathered.

By then, Dogo already had its hot springs, temples, markets, and lively activity. The Kōno clan chose this hill beside the springs, built a castle, and moved their seat of power.

This hill became Yuzuki Castle. Double moats were dug, earthen walls raised, and at the top stood the main enclosure. Below were samurai residences and a small castle town.

This layout would later resemble features seen in early modern Japanese castles. Toward the end of the Sengoku Period, as Toyotomi Hideyoshi advanced into Shikoku, Yuzuki Castle became one of his targets. Surrounded by troops, the last head of the Kōno clan opened the gates and surrendered the castle.

In the Edo Period, Matsuyama Castle rose elsewhere and the castle town developed below. This hill was left behind and gradually reclaimed by bamboo. With an old shrine and legends of white snakes, it became a quiet, forgotten castle site.

In the Meiji Period, a movement spread across Japan to turn former castle ruins into public parks. This hill followed the same path, becoming a botanical garden and eventually taking shape as Dogo Park.

A major turning point came with Yukiya Isaniwa, best known as the builder of the present Dogo Onsen Main Building. He also believed there should be a place to stroll after bathing, and reshaped this park so it could be enjoyed together with the hot springs.

After the war, a prefectural zoo was built here. The park became a lively leisure space filled with animals and families.

Toward the end of the Shōwa Period, plans were made to relocate the zoo, and new archaeological surveys were carried out. What emerged from the ground—earthen walls, moats, and samurai residences—was preserved in remarkably good condition.

People began to realize this was not simply a park, but a rare site that retained the shape of medieval Iyo. Voices rose to preserve the Yuzuki Castle ruins, and efforts to protect and use them spread.

Samurai residences and earthen walls were restored, a museum was built, and this hill took on a new role as the National Historic Site of Yuzuki Castle.

The forest before you now is not simply greenery. It stands upon layers of time. Isaniwa-no-Oka, where Prince Shōtoku is said to have set up a monument. Yuzuki Castle, once home to the Kōno clan.
Bamboo groves and white snake legends.

A post-bath strolling park shaped by Isaniwa. A leisure hill with a zoo. And now, a historic site carrying memory forward. In every era, people have gathered here—living, resting, enjoying the place, and then passing it on.

As you walk through the forest, you may find yourself imagining these unseen currents of time. Knowing this history can gently deepen the wind you feel, and the scents that reach you now.

With this in mind, you can continue on toward the deeper parts of the park.