Shipyard cranes mark the skyline before anything else does — great angular silhouettes rising above the Seto Inland Sea coast, where the water between the islands runs busy with vessels. Imabari has organized itself around two industries for generations: the building of ships and the weaving of towels. The latter is not incidental. Textile dyeing mills and looms have shaped the city's industrial identity as distinctly as any castle, and Imabari towels carry enough weight as a name that the city holds dedicated exhibition events at Texport Imabari to keep that reputation visible.
The islands that belong to the municipality add a different register entirely. Across the Shimanami Kaidō, Ōshima, Hakatajima, and Ōmishima each hold their own character. On Ōmishima, Ōyamazumi Jinja stands as the ichinomiya of Iyo Province, its treasure hall housing an exceptional collection. Nearby, the Murakami Kaizoku Museum documents the sea-based clans whose authority over these straits once shaped regional history. The stone quarried from Ōshima — Ōshima-ishi — has been cut and shipped from here for centuries, and the island's geology is still actively worked.
Back on the mainland, the food is direct and unadorned: yakitori grilled in the local style, yakibuta tamago-meshi — roasted pork over rice with egg — and tai-meshi, the rice cooked with sea bream that reappears across Ehime. At Saisai Kite-ya, the large agricultural direct-sales market, island-grown produce and local catches arrive without ceremony. The Seto Inland Sea is not scenery here; it is the supply chain.
Where to stay
A day is rarely enough.
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The islands of Imabari, Ehime
What converges here
15 in this city. 20 within 25 km of the city hall.
- Kōno Museum of Art, Imabari
- Ehime Bunkakan
- Kurushima Strait Observatory
- Ōnishi Fujiyama Historical Museum
- Tamagawa Museum of Modern Art, Imabari
See 15 more
- Asakura Museum of Art and Ruins
- Hitone Noma Rose Museum
- Murakami Kaizoku Museum
- Ken Iwata Mother and Child Museum, Imabari City
- Kawara-kan
- Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture
- Tokoro Museum Ōmishima
- Ōyamazumi Shrine Treasure Hall
- Ōmishima Maritime Museum
- Santō Murakami Memorial Museum of Calligraphy
- Toyo Local Museum
- Ehime Folk Crafts Museum
- IOKI Memorial Museum
- 上島町岩城郷土館
- Railway History Park in Saijo
Distances are straight-line from the municipal office. Each website was checked in September 2026. Some locations © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Iyo Kokubunji Temple Pagoda Ruins
- Noshima Castle Ruins
- Hachimanyama
- Senbiki no Sakura
- Omishima Island
- Shishigahara
- Oyamazumi Shrine Camphor Tree Grove
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Gorin-to
- Gorin-to (Five-Storied Stone Pagoda)
- Gorintō (Five-Ringed Stone Pagoda)
- Oyamazumi Shrine Hokyointo
- Oyamazumi Shrine Hokyointo Pagoda
- Oyamazumi Shrine Hokyointo Pagoda
- Hokyointo Pagoda
- Hokyo-into (Treasure Pagoda)
- Noma Shrine Hōkyōintō
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Jozen-ji Stone Pagoda
- Oyamazumi Jinja Honden (Hoden)
- Oyamazumi-jinja Haiden
- Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Garden
- Hyotanjima
- Setonaikai
- Nibukawa Onsen
- Mount Higashisanpogamori
- Mount Washigato
- Imabari
- Iyo-Sakurai
- Onishi
- Iyo-Tomita
- Kikuma
- Hashihama
- Namikata
- Iyo-Kamekoka