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If you have time to visit only one place on Shikoku, make it MATSUYAMA . Although it's the island's largest city, with a population of over 450,000, Matsuyama feels more like a convivial town and makes the most of its literary pedigree as Japan's centre for haiku poetry . Most points of interest are centred around the impressive castle, Matsuyama-jo , and the popular hot-spring suburb of Dogo , 2km east of the centre. The city is also a good base from which to launch your assault on Shikoku's highest mountain, Ishizuchi-san . Local warlords from the Kono clan built a fortress in Dogo in the fourteenth century, while Matsuyama was created in 1602 by daimyo Kato Yoshiakira when he built his castle on Katsuyama Hill. In 1635, the Matsudaira clan took charge of the castle and ruled the area until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Matsuyama was made the capital of Ehime-ken in 1889 and has since expanded across its corner of Shikoku's northwest coast to swallow up several neighbouring towns and suburbs, including Dogo. While the city centre, largely destroyed during World War II, is now modern with plenty of facilities, the handy tram network harks back to a less frantic era. You can see the city's highlights in a day, but it's better to give yourself an extra couple of days to savour the relaxed mood induced by Dogo's onsen. Who knows: you may even compose a haiku?
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