[2025] Masterpieces Themed on Ehime: From Local Songs to Municipal Anthems

Niihama City SongBoys and Girls Choir

Niihama City Song (with lyric video · Children's Choir)

This is the city song of Niihama, for which a promotion project was carried out in 2013 so that it would become familiar to citizens and be passed on to the next generation.

However, it has quite a bit of history—it was established in 1947—and I feel the wording is somewhat hard to understand.

The very beginning of the lyrics uses the word “reirō,” which I looked up and found means clear and beautiful like a jewel, shining; it might be expressing the beauty of Iyo, but it’s a bit difficult, isn’t it?

Iyo ManzaiLord Kings

Lord Kings – Iyo Manzai (Ehime Prefecture Folk Song), 1970

It’s one of the traditional performing arts practiced around Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture, read as Iyomanzai.

The song expresses, in lyrics, the lively dancing accompanied by singing, shamisen, and drums.

Representative pieces include “Matsu-zukushi” and “Osome Hisamatsu,” which are also mentioned in the lyrics.

There’s a version by Kaori Kozai and, though a bit older, one by Tonosama Kings—both songs are full of festive spirit.

Kurushima StraitRaymond Matsuya

Kurushima Strait — sung by Raymond Matsuya.

Precisely because I’m from Ehime Prefecture, I strongly feel this song could only have been created.

Well-known tourist spots come to mind for anyone who listens, but just from hearing names like Itoyama or Odagahama, you wouldn’t immediately think of Ehime.

Itoyama is a park with a panoramic view of the Kurushima Strait, and Odagahama is a beach bustling with families, but the theme of this song is the Kurushima Strait—a treacherous stretch of sea and one of Japan’s three great rapid tidal currents, alongside the Naruto and Kanmon Straits.

It matches the powerful vocals perfectly.

Shikoku Travel SentimentsHiromi Yashima

Hiromi Yashima “Shikoku Travel Sentiment” Fukuoka Kokusai Center

It gently and leisurely sings the charms of Shikoku.

Tokushima is all about the Awa Odori dance, and for Kochi, it has to be Sakamoto Ryoma.

Ehime brings to mind the famous Dogo Onsen and Natsume Soseki’s novel Botchan, while Kagawa is Sanuki-Takamatsu—so, udon, perhaps? It makes you want to travel, doesn’t it?

Song of Uwajima JakotenYasumichi Asada & Eisako

Uwajima Jakoten Song

Jakoten is a specialty product made along the coastal areas of the Nanyo region in Ehime Prefecture.

Among them, Uwajima—home to major manufacturers—is so famous that it’s even celebrated in song.

As for the tune, hmm… it feels more like listening to a supermarket commercial than an actual song.

Still, the jakoten looks incredibly delicious.

Nostalgic MatsuyamaNaomi Wakisaka

Naomi Wakisaka, “Homesick for Matsuyama,” 1981

From the mood of the song, it feels like it’s set in quite an old era.

After parting with the woman he loved out of a sense of duty, he hears rumors on the wind that she’s struggling in the entertainment district (Beijing-machi in Matsuyama City).

Overwhelmed by regret and pain, he sings of his memories of his hometown and his feelings for the woman he left behind.

Rainy Night on Sakura ShinmichiTakeda Thirty-Four

Guitar singer-songwriter original: 'Sakura Shindō Night Rain'

Unable to resist the tides of the times, Uwajima once prospered with industries such as yellowtail farming, mandarin orange production, and pearl cultivation.

Back then, Sakura Shindō, which appears in the song, was said to be the busiest entertainment district.

Now, however, it has lost its former appearance.

This song was composed by Mr.

Takeda Sanjūshi (Takeda Sanjūyō), a native of the area, with the hope of restoring the lively atmosphere it once had.