From Matsuyama Airport to Ozu Castle and Garyu Sanso: the Matsuyama Expressway and where to leave the Ozu Road

The exit differs by official page: Ozu-hijiminami IC, Ozu-minami IC or Ozu IC

From Matsuyama Airport to Ozu Castle and Garyu Sanso, you drive the Matsuyama Expressway toward Uwajima, and the free Ozu Road beyond Ozu IC brings you near the town of Ozu. The road from the airport to the Matsuyama Expressway and the rest areas up to Uchiko are described in From Matsuyama Airport to the Uchiko townscape. This article focuses on the part from Ozu IC onward.

For the interchange where you leave at Ozu, the official pages say different things, as follows.

Source	Exit and time given
大洲城公式「利用案内」 (Ozu Castle official site: Visitor information)	About 10 minutes from Ozu-hijiminami Interchange on the Matsuyama Expressway (to Ozu Castle)
大洲市公式観光情報【VisitOzu】「大洲市内・お車でお越しの方」 (Ozu City official tourist information VisitOzu: Within Ozu City, if you come by car)	About 10 minutes from Ozu IC to Asamoya
大洲市観光協会「アクセス」 (Ozu City Tourist Association: Access)	For the area around Ozu Castle, Garyu Sanso and Asamoya, go to Ozu-minami IC on the Matsuyama Expressway
愛媛県渋滞対策協議会のチラシ (Leaflet of Ehime Prefecture’s traffic congestion council)	About 8 minutes “via Ozu-kita IC”, about 11 minutes “via National Route 56” (the starting point is not given in the diagram)

The original text of Ozu Castle’s “Visitor information” is as follows.

自動車でお越しの場合 ※最寄りの駐車場は大洲市民会館駐車場（有料）または、大洲市観光第一駐車場（無料）になります。 松山自動車道大洲肱南インターチェンジより　約10分

Translation: “If you come by car. Note: the nearest parking lots are the Ozu Civic Hall parking lot (paid) or the Ozu City Tourist No. 1 parking lot (free). About 10 minutes from Ozu-hijiminami Interchange on the Matsuyama Expressway.”

Source: 利用案内 - 大洲城公式ウェブサイト｜愛媛県大洲市

The car column of the Ozu City Tourist Association’s “Access” page has the following 2 lines.

◎松山から　松山自動車道で宇和島方面へ→大洲ＩＣまで約６０分 「大洲城」「臥龍山荘」「大洲まちの駅あさもや」周辺にアクセスされる方は松山自動車道・大洲南ICへ（詳しくはコチラ）

Translation: “From Matsuyama: toward Uwajima on the Matsuyama Expressway, about 60 minutes to Ozu IC. If you are going to the area around “Ozu Castle”, “Garyu Sanso” and “Ozu Machi-no-Eki Asamoya”, go to Ozu-minami IC on the Matsuyama Expressway (for details, click here).”

Source: 伊予の小京都「大洲市観光協会」（アクセス）

The link behind “for details, click here” leads to the leaflet of Ehime Prefecture’s traffic congestion council (a PDF on the site of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Ozu River and National Highway Office). The file name is “r02_keiro.pdf”, which reads as a Reiwa 2 document. The tourist association’s page does not give an update date, and the copyright notice at the bottom of the page says 2018.

The three guides for Ozu do not settle on one exit. Among the official guides we found, the one that compares route speeds with numbers is the leaflet, with about 8 minutes and about 11 minutes. This article does not choose one exit and lists the three guides side by side.

The leaflet draws a line going straight without leaving at Ozu IC, then leaving at Ozu-minami IC and heading north on National Route 56

The title of the leaflet is “Access to the Ozu Castle area is far faster by the free route via Ozu-kita IC!” From the text in the diagram, we could read the following.

• In the enlarged diagram “Access from the Matsuyama Expressway”, “Ozu IC”, “Ozu toll gate” and “Go straight toward Uwajima without leaving at Ozu IC”.
• As “Access from National Route 56”, “Turn left at Toyogahashi intersection and go to Ozu-kita IC”.
• “Via Ozu-kita IC” is “about 8 minutes” (few traffic light stops), and “via National Route 56” is “about 11 minutes” (many traffic light stops).
• There is a “free section” marking, and on the E56 line the names appear in the order Ozu-kita IC, Ozu-fuji IC, Ozu-hijiminami IC, Ozu-minami IC and Ozu-kitamata IC.
• An enlarged diagram “Leave at Ozu-minami IC and go north on National Route 56”. “The way back is far faster via Ozu-minami IC!”
• The note says “Travel times are averages of ETC2.0 probe data (2019.11, 7:00 to 18:00)”. The contact is the Ozu River and National Highway Office (0893-24-5185).

The diagram does not say from where to where the times of about 8 minutes and about 11 minutes are measured. The ETC2.0 data is from November 2019.

Ehime Prefecture’s page describes this free section as follows. The page was last updated on June 25, 2025.

一般国道56号大洲道路（6.3km）は、四国8の字ネットワークの一部を形成する無料の自動車専用道路として、国土交通省により整備されています。 1991(H3)年3月に大洲冨士IC～大洲南IC間が開通した後、2002(H14)年3月に東大洲（大洲IC側）で四国縦貫自動車道と、2004(H16)年4月に大洲北只（大洲北只IC側）で四国横断自動車道とそれぞれ接続しており、全線開通しています。このうち、大洲IC～大洲北IC間は、2006（H18）年3月までに4車線化が完了しており、四国縦貫・横断自動車道の接続部は暫定2車線区間となっています。

Translation: “National Route 56 Ozu Road (6.3 km) is built by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as a free motorway forming part of the Shikoku Figure-8 Network. After the section between Ozu-fuji IC and Ozu-minami IC opened in March 1991 (Heisei 3), it connected to the Shikoku Jukan Expressway at Higashi-Ozu (Ozu IC side) in March 2002 (Heisei 14) and to the Shikoku Odan Expressway at Ozu-kitamata (Ozu-kitamata IC side) in April 2004 (Heisei 16), and the whole line is open. Of this, the section between Ozu IC and Ozu-kita IC was made four-lane by March 2006 (Heisei 18), and the connections to the Shikoku Jukan and Odan Expressways are provisional two-lane sections.”

Source: 高規格幹線道路（四国8の字ネットワーク・中四国連携ルート） - 愛媛県庁公式ホームページ（道路建設課）

The four-lane table on the same page has “about 4.4 km of the section between Uchiko-Ikazaki IC and Ozu IC” (project started in Heisei 1). The page writes “内子五十埼IC”.

In the map data (OpenStreetMap), there is a record of the “Ozu main line toll gate” right next to Ozu IC. It only records the position of the toll gate, and we have not confirmed the toll. We could not confirm the toll amount from Matsuyama IC to Ozu IC on an official page. Before you leave, check it in NEXCO West Japan’s toll search.

Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC has night closures until the morning of October 17, and the Ministry’s Ozu IC to Ozu-kitamata IC from the night of November 30

October 13, 2026, the day this article was written, is within the night closure period of the Matsuyama Expressway. The NEXCO West Japan corporate information page gives the hours as follows.

夜間通行止めは、毎夜19時から翌朝6時まで実施します。

Translation: “The night closure is carried out every night from 19:00 to 6:00 the next morning.”

Source: 四国内の高速道路の対面通行区間において秋季夜間通行止めを実施します | NEXCO 西日本 企業情報

Section	Dates	Detour
Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC, both directions (42.6 km)	14 nights, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, from the night of Monday, September 28, Reiwa 8 (2026) to the morning of Saturday, October 17. Spare dates: from the night of Monday, October 19 to the morning of Friday, October 23	National Routes 33 and 56
Ozu-minami IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC, both directions (16.5 km)	5 nights, from the night of Monday, October 26, Reiwa 8 (2026) to the morning of Saturday, October 31	National Route 56, Prefectural Road 29

There is no night closure on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays. The Friday night closure is lifted early on Saturday morning. If the weather or other causes delay the work, it may move to the spare dates. The work is “paving repair work”, “planting work (tree cutting)”, “four-lane work” and “bridge inspection”.

The attachment “Detour guide” (PDF, image) to the same notice compares the time and distance for Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC.

Route	Distance	Travel time
Normal route (Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC)	42.6 km	About 35 minutes
Detour route (Matsuyama IC, National Route 33, National Route 56, Ozu-kita IC)	About 50.0 km	About 70 minutes

The attachment says the difference in travel time between the normal route and the local-road detour route is about 35 minutes. On a closure night, if you head from Matsuyama IC toward Ozu after 19:00, the detour route takes about 70 minutes according to the attachment.

The section of Ozu-minami IC to Seiyo-Uwa IC starts at Ozu-minami IC. We could not tell from the notice whether the entrances and exits of Ozu-minami IC are included in the closure.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Ozu River and National Highway Office announced on October 8, 2026 a full night closure that includes Ozu IC to Ozu-kitamata IC.

Section	Dates (each day from 20:00 to 6:00 the next morning, nights only)	Detour
Ozu IC to Ozu-kitamata IC (length 6.3 km)	From the night of Monday, November 30, Reiwa 8 (2026) to the morning of Saturday, December 5, and from the night of Monday, December 7 to the morning of Saturday, December 12. Spare dates: from the night of Monday, December 14 to the morning of Saturday, December 19	National Route 56 (existing road)

The 6.3 km in the notice is the same length as the Ozu Road (6.3 km) in Ehime Prefecture’s page. The notice does not say what happens to the entrances and exits of Ozu-kita IC, Ozu-fuji IC, Ozu-hijiminami IC and Ozu-minami IC in this section during the closure. The same notice also lists dates for sections south of Ozu (Uwajima-Asahi IC to Tsushima-Iwamatsu IC and others), but they are not part of this article’s route. The Ministry’s contact is the Ozu River and National Highway Office (0893-24-6526, 8:30-17:15, except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays).

The shops at Iyonada SA (outbound) have hours of 7:00-19:00 and a last order of 18:30 for food and drink on the dates in the notice (October 13-16, spare dates October 19-22). The usual hours are 7:00-22:00. The parking lot has paving repairs until October 30, Reiwa 8 (2026), which cut the parking spaces by up to about half. The number of spaces and the shops at SAs and PAs are collected in Expressway SA/PA in Ehime.

Depending on the day you read this article, the dates may have changed or passed. Before you leave, check NEXCO West Japan’s traffic information and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s road information.

The official pages do not give a total driving time from Matsuyama Airport to Ozu Castle

We did not find an official page that gives the driving time from the airport to Ozu Castle and Garyu Sanso. The numbers by section and by starting point are as follows.

Section or starting point	Time given	Source
Matsuyama Airport to Yogominami IC (Prefectural Roads 22 and 190)	About 15 minutes	いよ観ネット「松山空港から宇和島駅へ」 (Iyokan-net: From Matsuyama Airport to Uwajima Station)
Matsuyama Airport IC to Matsuyama IC (Matsuyama Outer Ring Road)	About 15 minutes	内子町観光協会「アクセス」の図 (Uchiko Tourist Association: diagram on the Access page)
Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC (normal route)	About 35 minutes	NEXCO西日本の別紙 (NEXCO West Japan attachment)
Matsuyama to Ozu IC	About 60 minutes	大洲市観光協会「アクセス」 (Ozu City Tourist Association: Access)
Matsuyama City to Ozu City	About 1 hour by car	VisitOzu「大洲へのアクセス」 (VisitOzu: Access to Ozu)
Ozu-hijiminami IC to Ozu Castle	About 10 minutes	大洲城公式「利用案内」 (Ozu Castle official site: Visitor information)
Ozu IC to Ozu Machi-no-Eki Asamoya	About 10 minutes	VisitOzu「大洲市内・お車でお越しの方」 (VisitOzu: Within Ozu City, if you come by car)

The original text of VisitOzu’s “Access to Ozu” is as follows.

県庁所在地である松山市から大洲市までは、車で約1時間、電車で約35分です。

Translation: “From Matsuyama City, the prefectural capital, to Ozu City it takes about 1 hour by car and about 35 minutes by train.”

Source: 大洲へのアクセス | 大洲市公式観光情報【VisitOzu】愛媛県大洲市

Adding the about 15 minutes from “Matsuyama Airport IC” to Matsuyama IC in the Uchiko Tourist Association’s diagram and the about 35 minutes from Matsuyama IC to Ozu-kita IC gives about 50 minutes. This does not include the about 15 minutes from the airport to Yogominami IC (Iyokan-net) or the time beyond Ozu-kita IC. This is our own addition, not an official total. The Uchiko Tourist Association’s diagram starts at “Matsuyama Airport IC”, which is a different name from “Yogominami IC” in the prefecture’s guide (described in the Uchiko article). For the time beyond Ozu-kita IC, the leaflet’s about 8 minutes is a close number, but the starting point is not given in the diagram.

VisitOzu’s “Access from within Ehime Prefecture” describes the way from Matsuyama Airport to Ozu by the airport limousine bus and a JR transfer, and does not include a guide for cars.

The official pages do not confirm how to turn on Prefectural Roads 22 and 190 between the airport and Yogominami IC.

There are 4 parking lots, and the number of spaces and hours differ by source

Ozu Castle’s official site gives 2 lots as the “nearest parking lots”: the Ozu Civic Hall parking lot (paid) and the Ozu City Tourist No. 1 Parking Lot (free). Ozu City’s page lists the Tourist No. 1 Parking Lot and the Ozu City Hall multi-story parking lot, which can be used only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The prefecture’s tourism site lists Asamoya as a parking lot for Garyu Sanso.

Parking lot	大洲市「駐車場のご案内」 (Ozu City: Parking guide)	VisitOzu「お車でお越しの方」 (VisitOzu: If you come by car)	いよ観ネット (Iyokan-net)
Tourist No. 1 Parking Lot (観光第一駐車場)	47 regular cars, 4 buses. Free. Open all year, 24 hours	4 buses, 47 cars. Free. Hours “–”. Address 635-9	45 regular cars / 4 large vehicles. Free (Ozu Castle page)
Ozu Civic Hall (大洲市民会館)	Not listed	About 50. Paid (160 yen for the first hour, then 80 yen per 30 minutes). 8:00-22:00	57 regular cars. 160 yen/60 minutes (then 80 yen/30 minutes) (Ozu Castle page)
Ozu Machi-no-Eki Asamoya (大洲まちの駅あさもや)	Not listed	6 large buses, about 40 cars. Free. 9:00-18:00 (may change)	43 regular cars / 6 large vehicles. Free
City Hall multi-story parking (庁舎立体駐車場)	60 regular cars. Free. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only, 7:30-21:00	About 60. Free. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only, 7:30-21:00	Not listed

For the address of the Tourist No. 1 Parking Lot, Ozu City’s page says “大洲６３５－１” and VisitOzu’s table says “大洲635-9”. The City Hall multi-story parking lot has vehicle size limits of 5 m or less in length, 2 m or less in width and 2 m or less in height.

Ozu City’s page “Ozu Castle - Ozu City tourist information” gives “available (70 spaces)” for Ozu Castle’s parking, and says the following.

※駐車場は市民会館駐車場（有料）または観光駐車場（無料）をご利用ください。観光駐車場にはバス駐車場（4台）もご用意しています。

Translation: “Note: please use the Civic Hall parking lot (paid) or the tourist parking lot (free). The tourist parking lot also has bus parking (4 spaces).”

Source: 大洲城 - 大洲市観光情報 - 大洲市ホームページ

The page does not say which lots the 70 spaces add up from.

The update date of Ozu City’s “Parking guide” is October 11, 2021.

Ozu City asks people to keep cars out of the roads inside the castle town as much as possible

Ozu City’s “To everyone coming to the Ozu castle town (parking guide)” has the following text.

　大洲城下町は、人々の暮らしが残っており、生活感のあふれる町並みと静かな雰囲気が人気です。城下町内の生活道路にできるだけ車を乗り入れないご協力をお願いします。 　大洲まちの駅あさもや、おおず赤煉瓦館周辺では、混雑解消に努めておりますが、時期や時間帯、気象状況等により大変混雑する場合があります。 　車でお越しの場合には、観光第一駐車場をご利用ください。また、土・日曜日及び祝日には、大洲市役所庁舎立体駐車場の利用も可能となります。皆さんのご協力をよろしくお願いします。

Translation: “The Ozu castle town still has people’s daily lives, and its townscape full of a sense of everyday life and its quiet atmosphere are popular. We ask for your cooperation in keeping cars out of the residential roads inside the castle town as much as possible. Around Ozu Machi-no-Eki Asamoya and Ozu Akarenga-kan, we are working to ease congestion, but it may become very crowded depending on the season, time of day, weather and other conditions. If you come by car, please use the Tourist No. 1 Parking Lot. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, you can also use the Ozu City Hall multi-story parking lot. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Source: 大洲城下町へお越しの皆さんへ（駐車場のご案内） - 大洲市ホームページ（更新日：2021年10月11日更新）

We did not find an official page that gives the width of the roads in the castle town, whether cars can pass each other, or whether there are one-way streets. We also did not find a page by Ozu City or the Ozu River and National Highway Office about precautions for driving on the road along the Hiji River. The roads that close in heavy rain and the pages to check are in Roads in Ehime that close in heavy rain and typhoons, and where to look up road information is in Where to check Ehime road information before you leave.

Garyu Sanso’s official page sometimes carries notices of traffic restrictions on city roads. The one posted in January 2026, “Traffic restrictions on City Road Motoyoshi-cho Line”, was about paving repair work on January 14 and 15, Reiwa 8 (2026), and has ended.

Garyu Sanso’s official page has no parking guide; Asamoya is a 5-minute walk away

Garyu Sanso’s official page gives the opening hours and admission fees.

Item	Garyu Sanso	Ozu Castle
Opening hours	9:00-17:00 (last admission 16:30)	9:00-17:00 (last admission 16:30)
Closing days	Open all year	Open all year
Admission	Adults 550 yen, children 220 yen (junior high school age and under)	Adults 550 yen, children 220 yen (junior high school age and under)
Combined ticket (2 facilities)	Adults 880 yen, children 330 yen	Adults 880 yen, children 330 yen

Source: 臥龍山荘｜愛媛県大洲市、利用案内 - 大洲城公式ウェブサイト｜愛媛県大洲市

Ozu Castle’s “Visitor information” also has a combined ticket for 3 facilities, including Bansenso (adults 1,100 yen, children 440 yen). The same information for people coming from Yawatahama Port is in From Yawatahama Port to Ozu Castle.

We did not find a parking guide on Garyu Sanso’s official page. The Garyu Sanso page of the prefecture’s tourism site, Iyokan-net, writes “[Ozu Machi-no-Eki Asamoya] 43 regular cars / 6 large vehicles” in the parking column, and gives the parking fee as free. VisitOzu’s table gives 5 minutes on foot from Asamoya to Garyu Sanso and 11 minutes to Ozu Castle. We could not confirm on official pages whether there is a place to park a car near the grounds of Garyu Sanso.

The notice of November 12, 2024 on Garyu Sanso’s official page asks travel agencies and bus companies to limit the number of people entering at one time to a maximum of 40 and to make reservations in advance. The request is addressed to travel agencies and bus companies.

From October 10 to 25, 2026, OZU ARTS and CRAFTS is held at Ozu Castle, Garyu Sanso and other places

In its notice of September 15, 2026, VisitOzu gives the period of “OZU ARTS and CRAFTS 2026” as Saturday, October 10 to Sunday, October 25, 2026. The venues are Garyu Sanso, Ozu Castle, Bansenso and the former Hirata House (HITOSHIMA Hirata House / Art Space). General admission tickets are written as 550 yen for adults and 220 yen for children at Ozu Castle, Garyu Sanso and Bansenso, and free at the former Hirata House.

We did not find in this notice any guidance on changes in opening hours during the period, or on congestion at parking lots and roads. October 13, the day this article was written, is within the period.

What comes next for this article

The positions of the points are checked with OpenStreetMap. The point numbers will match the chapter numbers of the driving video. This article is written only from official pages and map data, and we have not driven it yet. After driving it, we will add the fork after the Ozu IC toll gate, the roads from the exits of Ozu-kita IC, Ozu-hijiminami IC and Ozu-minami IC onto National Route 56, which way the entrances of the Ozu Civic Hall parking lot and the Tourist No. 1 Parking Lot face, and the road from Asamoya to Garyu Sanso.

These are the things we could not confirm on official pages.

• The total driving time from Matsuyama Airport to Ozu Castle and Garyu Sanso
• The toll from Matsuyama IC to Ozu IC
• How to turn on Prefectural Roads 22 and 190 from Matsuyama Airport to Yogominami IC (the tourist association says “Matsuyama Airport IC”)
• The starting and ending points of the leaflet’s “about 8 minutes” and “about 11 minutes”
• The directions in which Ozu-hijiminami IC and Ozu-minami IC can be entered and exited
• What happens to the entrances and exits of Ozu-kita IC, Ozu-fuji IC, Ozu-hijiminami IC and Ozu-minami IC during the full night closure from November 30
• The number of spaces at the Ozu Civic Hall parking lot and Ozu Machi-no-Eki Asamoya, and the number of spaces and the address of the Tourist No. 1 Parking Lot (they differ by source)
• Whether there is a place to park a car near Garyu Sanso
• Road and parking congestion during OZU ARTS and CRAFTS 2026
• The width of the roads in the castle town, passing, and one-way streets