Danbata in Yusumizugaura, Cultural landscape in Uwajima, Japan.

The Danbata in Yusumizugaura are terraced fields on a steep cape in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, built by stacking small stones into step-like walls. The stone tiers rise at an average slope of 40 degrees, stand over 1 metre high, number more than 60 courses and reach about 90 metres above sea level. Between the walls lie plots 1 to 2 metres wide; roughly 1,000 terraces cover about 3.4 hectares facing the Uwa Sea.

The terraces are said to have begun in the Edo period, when the third lord of the Uwajima domain (Date clan) let villagers clear the mountain slopes freely in exchange for forced sardine fishing. A run of good catches at the end of the Edo period raised the population, and slopes were cleared through the Meiji era; when sericulture spread, mulberry fields required more walls, built up to the Taisho era.

The name Mizugaura comes from the hardship of carrying water up the slope as a load. The fields are called danbata locally, and about 20 farm households still grow early potatoes there. The NPO Danbata o Mamorou Kai runs the Dandan Chaya restaurant and shop, selling Dandanzhu shochu made from those potatoes.

Access is by car on Ehime Prefectural Route 346, by Uwajima Bus from JR Uwajima Station (about 60 minutes to the Mizugaura stop), or by high-speed boat from Shinnaiko port (about 16 minutes to Mizugaura). The stone steps rise over 60 tiers on slopes averaging 40 degrees, so wear firm shoes. The NPO-run Dandan Chaya restaurant and shop opens 9:00 to 16:00 and closes Mondays and Thursdays.

The terraces are nicknamed the "Pyramids of the Uwa Sea" for their ancient-ruin look, and they rank 45th among the 88 Views of Shikoku. In 2007 they became the first site in Shikoku selected as an Important Cultural Landscape, under the category of farming landscapes. Around 20 farm households in Mizugaura still cultivate early potatoes there.