Takayama Things to Do

The autumn leaves,
drfit by my window .....

How we long to experience autumn especially folks like us who live in the tropics. We knew that Takayama would be a whole lot colder than Kyoto, so maybe just maybe autumn would come earlier here!

And it did! Well, just 1 tree next to the bus stop but it's good enough for us!!!

The Takayama Festival, hold 2 festival one in the spring (April 14 and 15) and the other in the fall (October 9 and 10)

Is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful festivals

Four of the eleven floats (yatai) paraded in the autumn festival are exhibited at the Takayama Yatai Kaikan, a hall next to Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine.

They are really beautiful to see, and so elaborately decorated .They are several hundred years old really beautiful examples of Takayama's legendary craftsmanship

The best way to see Takayama SANMACHI SUJI is walking, you get the feel of the area and is really not a bad walk...

The street are lined with houses in the old style of black wood....

There are several FORMER MERCHANT HOUSES that can not be miss and it open to the public for 500 yen..

The best one are YOSHIJIMA-KE and KUSAKABE MINGEIKAN there are next to each other so you can not miss it.

Sanmachi Suji are 3 narrow streets in the center of Takayama's old town.

The streets are lined with traditional buildings, stores, sake breweries and private homes.

When walking the streets you really feel you are back in time...Some of the buildings house museums on folk art, local history ...

A few times I made the mistake and walked into a private home...becasue all the houses are really nicely keep to the tradition..but there are also some elegant former merchant houses open to the public, great to see.

I saw a few RICKSHAW , which you can rent for 3000 yen.for 2 people..but I did not ...just walking around the street felt more natural..


You can reach Sanmachi Suji in 5-10 minute walk from the JR Takayama Station which is just across the Miyagawa River.

At 7am everyday in Takayama there are 2 open markets..One near the TAKAYAMA JINJA and the other along the Miyagawa River in the SANMACHI Suji..

I went to the SANMACHI one, its was fun to walk around and look at the stands selling local farm products such as vegetables, lots of pickles and also local crafts..


The Takayama Jinya morning market is held in front of Takayama Jinya, its about a 5-10 minute walk from the JR Takayama Station.

The Miyagawa morning market
is held along Miyagawa River in the Sanmachi Suji area, also a 5-10 minute walk from the JR Takayama Station.

I followed a lot of the hints I got off the VT pages I saw... there aren't so many with hints (many with just pics though). The Hida Village was something I learnt about here on VT and so I went to experience it when we were passing through Takayama.

The Hida Folk Village is a wonderful outdoor museum that you can wander around. It was in the snow and they had a place where you could get boots - thank God! Take them up on the free boots if you're there in the snow... I saw people who didn't having a very wet and slippery time.

Inside the Hida Houses you can see what life would have been like. Fires burn and you can move about the houses and feel how cold and dark they would have been in winter.

I completely recommend you go.

In the Hida-no-sato (Hida Folk Village) open-air museum there is a "Fountain of Youth". If there is even the off chance that this could be real it's worth a look :-) !!

Nicole & I took the extended path through the Folk Village and came across the "EMMEISUI" (fountain of youth). It was a lovely path to reach the small fountain and quite a nice little stroll. We of course asked for a little youth, being there and all it seemed like the right thing to do.

Please refer to my Hida Folk Village tip for more details.

Hida Folk Village (Hida-no-sato) is a model of a Hida folk village. It covers 99,000 square meters and includes National Cultural Treasures and 30 buildings recreating Hida’s historical look. Many of these buildings were transported here from other parts of the region.

The museum's main attractions are a number of gassho-zukuri houses. The massive farmhouses with their steep, thatched roofs which look like praying hands ("gassho-zukuri") were moved here from the nearby Shirakawago valley.

All exhibited buildings are carefully preserved and are open to the public to explore. Also, the buildings' indoor fireplaces are lit every morning, making this outstanding open air museum a treat not only for the eyes but also for the nose. The smoke from the fires acts to protect the wood from insects.

In each building, everyday articles (which are now regarded as folk art) recalling the life and culture of mountain farming villages are displayed.

The sloped and thatched-roof houses in this open are museum allow us to see what life in the mountains would have been like in the Edo period. This is one museum NOT to be missed for those interested in history and/or Japan.