History
Matsuyama City Station opened on 28 October 1888 as plain "Matsuyama Station" on Shikoku's first railway, the third private railway in Japan, running between the city and the port of Mitsugahama with an interim stop at Komachi. It was renamed Togawa Station on 20 July 1889 and reverted to "Matsuyama Station" on 1 June 1902. Pressure from the Japanese Government Railways, which was preparing to open its own Matsuyama Station, forced Iyotetsu to rename the station Matsuyama-shi (City) on 1 March 1927. Trams of the Hanazono Line have terminated outside the station since 25 March 1947; the streetcar stop was rebuilt 15 m closer to the station and reopened on 24 August 2025.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Locals call the station "Shieki" to distinguish it from the JR Matsuyama Station, and it tops every JR Shikoku station in daily ridership — making Iyotetsu's private terminus the busiest rail station on Shikoku.