At the end of the ascent, you will feel the wind pouring out into the night as you reach the observatory. Matsuyama’s city lights twinkle in the distance while Dōgo Onsen and the surrounding buildings emerge in the moonlight.
This was once the heart of Yuzuki Castle.
The warriors who ruled Iyo Province moved the gears of politics while looking down upon this scenery…
It all happened 400 years ago…
The middle ages were over. Yuzuki Castle was abandoned. And over time people stopped coming to this hill. Eventually it transformed into a bamboo grove. The castle gates rotted away. The moat became clogged with mud.
Only the crows made their nests upon this ruin. But then came a new era: the Meiji Period. One that saw the hill opened to the masses once more.
The year was 1886.
The Ehime Prefectural government reimagined the Yuzuki Castle ruins as a botanical garden. While Dōgo was thriving as a hot spring town at the time, the hill and castle ruins were so densely packed with bamboo that it was difficult to approach.
Little by little, the government serviced the hill. They cleared away the bamboo, planted flowers and trees, and reopened the area under a new name: Dōgo Park. Then a man called Isaniwa Yukiya enters our story.
In the year 1890, the small municipality of Dōgoyunomachi was born. Isaniwa Yukiya was its founding mayor. His biggest innovation was constructing the Dōgo Onsen main complex; a building that symbolizes Dōgo to this day.
In 1894, Isaniwa dramatically transformed the area’s communal bath, overcoming dissent from the public to construct the three magnificently tall wooden buildings of the main complex. Upon completion, his reputation immediately spread throughout the country, drawing more visitors to the hot springs.
The following year, one Natsume Sōseki moved to Matsuyama for a teaching position. Later he would write the following words in his novel Bocchan: “I’ve gone to (Sumida’s) hot springs every day since I came here. In many ways nothing compares to Tokyo, but the hot springs are indeed splendid.”
The town’s economy boomed from this success. Shops were added, inns were built, and Dōgo grew to become Shikoku’s number one hot spring town.
But the main complex was not Isaniwa Yukiya’s only achievement. As town mayor, he enacted another crucially important initiative. Yes – it was the development of Dōgo Park.
Back then, the park was a prefectural botanical garden, but the government budget never reached far enough to service it properly.
But Isaniwa came along and offered to donate funds on behalf of the town. Cleaning and planting efforts ensued; locals also participated in the gradual restoration of the park. The premise for this initiative was creating “a place for people to get fresh air after a hot bath.”
And now, this grand view before your eyes – this windblown night observatory, and the twinkling city lights in the distance – it is now part of your very own post-bath stroll.
Now, we return to Isaniwa Yukiya. Actually, his original last name was not “Isaniwa”; he changed his name shortly before becoming town mayor.
Why did he pick “Isaniwa,” though? There are no records that point to a reason. However, people who came after believed the following:
“He must have truly respected Dōgo’s history and Crown Prince Shōtoku’s legacy.”
“Isaniwa.”
A mellow name, inviting in its gentleness. “Isaniwa Hill” – a place where people once came to see an epigraph. And the romantic tales of Crown Prince Shōtoku’s monument… Yukiya picked this word as he dedicated himself to this town during the Meiji Period. If true, it’d be a beautiful choice.
Yukiya may have felt that he wanted to make this town inviting once again, preserve its ancient history for the Meiji generation, to develop Dōgo into a crown jewel of Japan once more… But all of that is speculation, of course.
Still, standing on this observatory at night, looking back on the past, one can't help but feel the name he chose was no accident. Look down below and you will see city lights filtering through the park trees, and the hill’s quiet contours emerging from the night.
In ancient times, people once gathered at this hill to see the Crown Prince’s monument. The middle ages saw the rise of the Kōno Clan and their castle.
And more recently, Isaniwa Yukiya developed a trail upon its earth. Which brings us to today – to you, standing here at the Dōgo Park observatory.
One hill, telling many different tales across the ages. And yet the earth under your feet is unyielding, eternal.
The name “Isaniwa” is the wondrous key that opens the gate to a compressed timespace of tales within tales, folding in on themselves.
We hope the rest of your night stroll is blessed with an umbral serenity, within which the ghosts of antiquity gently watch you from the shadows, merging the past with the present.
What shape will the “Isaniwa Hill” in your heart take? We hope you’ll enjoy finding out.
This guide was created based on documents and interviews and includes some interpretation done by us at ON THE TRIP. Theories differ between experts, so try to find out what really happened on your travels!