![[Latest 2026] Yawatahama City Annual Event Calendar! Festivals & Events Summary](https://machikadoehime.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/yawatahama-event-eyecatch-1024x683.webp)
📅 Event Calendar (Yawatahama / Nanyo Area)
Mid-August
Yawatahama Minato Summer Festival & Fireworks Display
Grand Port Fireworks 📅 Around August 14th-15th annually
Around Yawatahama Port and city center
July - August
Heikedani's Somen Nagashi (Flowing Noodles)
Cool Somen Noodles 📅 Mid-July to late August annually
Heike-dani Nature Park
Mid-October
Yawatahama Minato Festival (Autumn Festival)
Enthusiastic Teyateya Odori 📅 Around October 18th-19th annually
Throughout Yawatahama City & around Shinmachi Shopping Street
Spring ~ Autumn
Dalemain World Marmalade Awards
World Competition 📅 Annually Spring (Partial Judging) ~ Autumn (Festival)
Yawatahama Citizen's Cultural Activities Center, etc.
August・December
Hizuchi Elementary School Building Tour
Limited Public Access 📅 Tours: Annually in August, December, etc. (Official confirmation required)
Hizuchi-cho, Yawatahama City
November - December
Exquisite Mikan Orange Picking: Maana Mikan
Japan's Sweetest 📅 Mikan Season: November - December
Various farms and direct sales stores within Yawatahama City
Mid-Feb to Early Mar
Kawazu Cherry Blossoms in Kitsu and Isozu
Early-Blooming Cherry Blossoms 📅 Kawazu Cherry Blossom Season: Mid-February to Early March
Kitsu and Isozu Districts, Yawatahama City
🌸
Hidden Gem & Healing
Cherry Blossoms of Takanoji, the 'Village in the Sky'
Located on a hill approximately 220m above sea level, this area is enveloped in a tranquility reminiscent of a 'village in the sky'. It's a hidden cherry blossom spot where you can experience the 'beautiful spring of a satoyama' (traditional Japanese rural landscape) woven by the deep green mountains, weeping cherry trees, and Somei Yoshino cherry trees.
✈️
History & Events
Chuhachi Ninomiya Flight Memorial Tournament
A tournament commemorating Chuhachi Ninomiya, a pioneer in Japanese aircraft development from Yawatahama City. Every spring, participants fly handmade Japanese paper crow-shaped gliders and imaginative rubber-powered aircraft into the sky, an event full of dreams and romance.
🎇
Fireworks & Summer Festival
Yawatahama Minato Summer Festival & Fireworks Display
🎇 The Port Town's Night Sky Ablaze with Excitement! Teyateya Wave and Grand Fireworks Yawatahama's biggest summer event! On the night of Obon, the town is filled with excitement from the enthusiastic dance parade of the 'Teyateya Wave,' in which many citizens participate. The climax features massive fireworks launched right in front of the port!
The famous offshore fireworks, viewed while feeling the sea breeze, are a spectacular sight unique to this port town, the western gateway to Shikoku.
🥢
Summer Coolness & Gourmet
Heikedani's Somen Nagashi (Flowing Noodles)
In a deep, nature-rich valley where the legend of the Heike clan's refugees remains, this popular summer tradition attracts many seeking coolness. Enjoy the famous 'somen nagashi' (flowing noodles) and rainbow trout fishing while listening to the murmuring of the clear stream, and let the cold water wash away the heat.
👹
Autumn Festival & Tradition
Yawatahama Minato Festival (Autumn Festival)
👹 Ushi-oni, Karajishi, and thousands of 'Teyateya Odori' dancers! A city-wide autumn festival with total citizen participation, where the entire city is enveloped in festive excitement. Mikoshi (portable shrines) parade from each district, and traditional 'Itsutsu-shika Odori' (Five Deer Dance), 'Karajishi Mai' (Chinese Lion Dance), and the powerful 'Ushi-oni' (Ox Demon) appear. For the main event at night, thousands of 'Teyateya Odori' dancers fill the shopping streets.
Numerous food stalls line the shopping streets and port, bustling with energy from children to adults all day long.
🍊
Events & Local Specialties
Dalemain World Marmalade Awards
The Japan competition of the 'Dalemain Marmalade Awards', an international event from the UK, is held in Yawatahama, the sacred land of mandarins. Enjoy the judging and awards ceremony for unique marmalades gathered from across Japan and overseas, as well as a British Fair.
🚂
Park & Autumn Leaves
SL Exhibition and Autumn Leaves at Oji-no-Mori Park
A popular spot where you can see a real, majestically preserved steam locomotive (SL) amidst beautiful autumn foliage. It's also perfect as a playground for children, offering nostalgic photo opportunities with the retro train and autumn leaves.
🏫
Important Cultural Property & Architecture
Hizuchi Elementary School Building Tour
A miraculous building that, despite being an active wooden elementary school, is designated as a National Important Cultural Property and a masterpiece of post-war modernist architecture. Normally, it can only be viewed from outside the premises, but public tours are held during long holidays such as summer vacation.
🍊
Taste & Local Specialties
Exquisite Mikan Orange Picking: Maana Mikan
When you think of Yawatahama, you think of 'Mikan' oranges, a top-class brand nationwide. Exquisite mikan, grown on steep terraced fields bathed in three types of light—sunlight, reflection from the sea, and reflection from stone walls—reach their peak season. You can enjoy mikan picking at local direct sales stores and farms.
🏝️
Scenic & Mysterious Island
Nezumi Island
An island accessible by foot via a sea path that appears only at low tide. Due to its mystical appearance, it's known to those in the know as 'Yawatahama's Mont Saint-Michel,' a photogenic hidden gem with stunning views. You can enjoy tide pooling and beautiful sunsets.
⛩️
Underwater Torii Gate & Photography
Itsukushima Shrine in Shitama
Itsukushima Shrine features a vermilion 'underwater torii gate' floating serenely in the calm sea. At high tide, it appears to float on the water, and at sunset, the torii and setting sun reflect on the water's surface, creating a dramatic and perfect photo opportunity.
🥾
Hiking & Scenic Views
Suwazaki Nature Trail
A beautiful cape stretching approximately 3km into the Uwa Sea. As you walk along the trail to its tip, past ubame oak forests and seasonal flowers (such as camellias), you'll be greeted by a magnificent white lighthouse and endless blue sea views.
🐟
Market & Roadside Station
Roadside Station & Minato Oasis 'Yawatahama Minatto'
🐟 Fresh fish market at port prices and a haven for mikan sweets! The ultimate hub for Yawatahama tourism! At the adjacent 'Doya Market,' you can buy super fresh seafood just landed at port prices and enjoy it on the spot as a kaisendon (seafood bowl). At 'Agora Marche,' you can fully indulge in local specialty mikan juice, sweets, and regional gourmet dishes.
It also features a green park and cafes where you can relax while feeling the sea breeze from the port, making it very lively on weekends.
🍜
Local Gourmet
Yawatahama Champon Tour
Ehime's local soul food, characterized by its 'golden, light Japanese-style broth (bonito, chicken bones, etc.)' rather than a pork bone base! It's generously filled with local specialties like 'jakoten' (fried fish cake) and 'kamaboko' (fish cake), with dozens of restaurants in the city offering their unique takes.
♨️
Day-trip Hot Spring
Kuroyu Onsen 'Minato-yu'
A natural hot spring facility that boasts a rare amber-colored 'Kuroyu (moor spring)' infused with ancient plant components, highly unusual even in the Chugoku and Shikoku regions. It's renowned for its excellent skin-beautifying effects and for keeping you warm. It's the perfect spot to visit after enjoying sightseeing and gourmet food.
🎣
Sea Fishing & Leisure
Fish Farm Seashore Yawatahama
An experiential leisure facility built on the Uwa Sea, where everyone from beginners to veterans can enjoy sea fishing. It's a very popular spot for families, as you can safely fish in offshore fish preserves and fishing ponds by crossing the long "View Bridge".
🏝️
Island Trip & Cafe
Yawatahama Oshima Island & Shima no Table
Oshima Island, an isolated island about 20 minutes by regular ferry from Yawatahama Port. On the island, there's a renovated traditional house cafe called "Shima no Table" where you can enjoy lunch and sweets made with local ingredients while gazing at the beautiful sea, allowing you to savor a relaxed island time and cycling.
🍊
Superb View & Industrial Landscape
Mukainada Terraced Fields (Whispers of Mikan)
Terraced fields built with stone walls on a steep slope facing the Uwa Sea, producing delicious mikan (mandarin oranges) from Yawatahama. The breathtaking industrial landscape, woven by the blue sea and sky, and the mikan mountains dyed orange during harvest season, is a must-see.
🌸
Cherry Blossoms & Scenic Drive
Kawazu Cherry Blossoms in Kitsu and Isozu
🌸 An Early Arrival of Spring! Beautiful Contrast of Sea and Cherry Blossoms Located along the coastal "Yuyake Koyake Line (National Route 378)", these lovely pink flowers bloom from mid-February, when it's still chilly. The contrast between the blue Uwa Sea and the vibrant Kawazu cherry blossoms is perfect for a scenic spring drive.
Many riders and photographers from within and outside Ehime visit to enjoy an early cherry blossom viewing.
📝 Information is current as of writing. Dates, contents, and fees are subject to change.
Please check the official website before visiting.
Please check the official website before visiting.
