Uwajima, Ehime

After Hidemune Date, the eldest son of Masamune Date, a prominent lord in northern Japan, took over Uwa in 1614, the clan strongly promoted Uwajima Castle as a centre of industry, education, and culture.

In 1817 Uwa became Uwajima Prefecture. The following year it was renamed Kamiyama Prefecture. In 1873, Kamiyama Prefecture was combined with Ishizuchi Prefecture. After Ehime Prefecture was established, the capital was moved to Matsuyama, which is in the northernmost area of Ehime.

The town system began in 1889. In 1917, Maruho village was merged with Uwajima, and Yahata Village was annexed in 1921 - it thus became a unified city. In addition, it was extended by combining Kushima Village in 1934 and renovating the bay area for factory usage.

In 1945 the centre of the city was largely destroyed by bombing. However, post-war reconstruction was remarkable, and the city recovered admirably. In 1955, Miura and Takamitsu villages were combined, and in 1974, Uwaumi village was also merged with Uwajima.

Uwajima is also home to an unusual fertility shrine called Taga-jinja, which features a large, realistic phallus carved from a log approximately 5 feet in length. Next to the shrine is an extremely graphic and bizarre sex 'museum,' filled with artifacts and paintings from around the world.

The city is renowned for its bullfighting, but they differ from the more widely-known Spanish bullfights in that there is no matador. Two bulls are brought together in a ring, and fight until one bull's knees touch the ground or flees from the ring, marking it the loser. Except for special occasions, the bullfights are held on January 2nd, the second Sunday of April, July 24th, and August 14th.

As of 2005, the city has an estimated population of 70,000. The total area is 143.30 km².

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