Noma Uma Highland: Meet Japan’s Smallest Native Horse in Imabari (Free Admission)
Noma Uma Highland is a free park on the edge of Imabari, and the only place in the world where you can meet the Noma horse — the smallest of Japan’s eight native horse breeds. Only around fifty of them are left. It is about twenty minutes from JR Imabari Station by bus and on foot, which makes it an easy half-morning if you are taking a rest day from the Shimanami Kaido.
Why it is worth the detour
Most people come to Imabari for the bridges, the towels or a bowl of yakibuta tamago meshi. The Noma horse is the quieter story, and in some ways the more surprising one.
This is not a zoo. It is a working conservation park, run with the Noma Horse Preservation Society, and the animals here are effectively the entire remaining population of a breed that very nearly disappeared. Admission costs nothing, the exhibition hall costs nothing, and the parking costs nothing. If you have children with you, they can ride a Noma horse for 200 yen.
What is a Noma horse?
A Noma horse stands around 110 cm at the shoulder. That is smaller than most riding ponies, and it is the point: the breed was kept in the Noma district as a farm animal, small enough to work the narrow paths and steep slopes of terraced fields, and cheap enough for ordinary farming households to feed.
When machines replaced horses in Japanese agriculture during the twentieth century, the need for them vanished and the numbers collapsed. The breed came close to being lost altogether. Today the Noma horse is a designated cultural property of Imabari City, and the herd you see grazing here is most of what remains.
Makiba-kan, the exhibition hall
Makiba-kan, the exhibition building inside the park, is also free to enter, and it is worth twenty minutes before you go out to the paddocks. The ground floor holds the information desk, the ticket machine for pony rides, a shop, a rest area, toilets, coin lockers, and a nursing and nappy-changing room. The displays are upstairs.
The centrepiece is a mounted skeleton set against a life-size outline of the animal, with the height marked on the wall behind it. Photographs never quite convey how compact these horses are; the skeleton does it immediately.
Elsewhere in the hall there is a Noma horse in full ceremonial harness — the tasselled, brocaded dress used for local festivals, which is a long way from the muddy working animal the breed actually was.
There is also a hands-on display showing how a packhorse was loaded, which explains the breed better than any label: this was an animal that carried things up hills for a living.
Pony rides and small animals — weekends and holidays only
This is the single most important thing to know before you plan your visit. Riding and the small-animal area operate only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, from 10:00 to 12:00 and again from 13:00 to 15:00. On a weekday you can still see the horses and visit Makiba-kan, but there is no riding.
Riding costs 200 yen per lap, and it is for children only. Riders must be aged three to the sixth year of elementary school, weigh under 25 kg, and be able to wear a helmet and protective vest. Adults cannot ride, however much they might want to. Tickets come from a machine in the entrance hall of Makiba-kan, not from the paddock.
The small-animal area runs at the same hours. Staff settle a guinea pig onto a towel on your child’s lap, so you do not need to bring anything or know what to do.
The playground behind the paddocks
Beyond the horses there is a large play area, and it is better than the phrase “park playground” suggests. The main structure is a climbing frame whose sides are built as bouldering walls, studded with holds so that children can go up from any face.
The frame is joined to a run of rope netting, and the whole thing suits primary-school children rather than toddlers.
Behind it is a gentler maze-like structure that smaller children can manage, and above the maze a one-person gondola that you haul along yourself by rope.
Getting there from JR Imabari Station
- By bus: take the Setouchi Bus Kikuma line from in front of JR Imabari Station, about 11 minutes. Get off at Engi (延喜) and walk about 10 minutes.
- By car: about 5 minutes from Imabari IC. Free parking for 150 cars.
- Map: Noma Uma Highland on Google Maps
On a bicycle: this one is inland, and it is not a stop on the Shimanami Kaido itself — the cycling route heads north over the bridges, while the park sits west of the city. Treat it as a detour on a rest day in Imabari rather than something to squeeze in mid-crossing.
There is a map board inside the grounds if you want to get your bearings on arrival.
Hours and practical details
- Address: 8 Noma-ko, Imabari, Ehime 794-0082
- Phone: 0898-32-8155
- Open: 10:00–17:00
- Closed: Tuesdays (the following day when Tuesday falls on a public holiday), and over the New Year period
- Admission: free, including Makiba-kan
- Riding: 200 yen per lap, weekends and holidays only, children only
- Parking: free, 150 spaces
Opening details can change, so check the Imabari City tourism page before setting out.
Questions visitors ask
Can adults ride? No. The weight limit is 25 kg and the upper age limit is the sixth year of elementary school.
Is it worth going on a weekday? If you simply want to see the breed, yes — the horses are out and Makiba-kan is open. If you are bringing children who want to ride or hold a guinea pig, go at a weekend.
How long does it take? An hour is enough to see the horses and the exhibition. With the playground, allow ninety minutes to two hours.
Is there food? There is a shop and a rest area on the ground floor of Makiba-kan, which covers snacks and drinks. For a proper meal, eat in the city before you come.
Is it manageable with small children? Yes. Makiba-kan has toilets, coin lockers, and a nursing and nappy-changing room on the ground floor.
What about rain? The park is mostly outdoors. Makiba-kan is indoors, but it is small.
Do I need Japanese? Signage is mainly in Japanese, but nothing here depends on language. Staff are used to small children who cannot explain themselves either.
Making half a day of it
The park pairs naturally with the flat, easy side of Imabari. Imabari Castle is in the city centre and takes about an hour. If you are riding, rental cycle terminals are covered here. And when you are finished, Kissuke no Yu, the hot spring beside the station, is the obvious way to end the day before catching a train.
Original article in Japanese: 今治市｜のまうまハイランド
