The 194-km Yoshino is Shikoku's longest river, draining the central mountains and entering the Inland Sea just north of Tokushima. Within the city limits it is a vast, slow-moving channel crossed by half a dozen bridges; cyclists use the levee path on the south bank for unbroken kilometres of car-free riding.
Upstream, the river carves the Iya Valley gorge, one of the great inland landscapes of Japan and a popular two-day side trip from Tokushima via the Tokushima Line train to Oboke.