Ehime Prefecture Imabari has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall.

The area in which Imabari is situated is part of ancient Iyo Province and had long been a strategic point for the control of the Seto Inland Sea.

After the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu installed his general Tōdō Takatora as daimyō of the 200,000 koku Imabari Domain.

On January 16, 2005, the towns of Hakata, Kamiura, Kikuma, Miyakubo, Namikata, Ōmishima, Ōnishi, Tamagawa, and Yoshiumi, and the villages of Asakura and Sekizen (all from Ochi District) were merged into Imabari.

In terms of national politics, Imabari is part of Ehime 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

[6] Imabari is home to a large number of shipbuilding and maritime servicing facilities along the northern and eastern coastlines of the city.

Facilities include a small container port and maintenance and construction shipyards belonging to Imabari Shipbuilding, Japan's largest ship builder.

The Imabari Meitoku Junior College is located in the city, as is the Okayama University of Science Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

Opened in 1999, the bridge is part of the Shimanami Kaidō, and features an expressway for road vehicles as well as dedicated pedestrian and cycle lanes.