The trip to Shirakawa-go was beautiful (when we weren’t driving through tunnels) and we arrived as scheduled at 3pm to park in the parking area, which was chock-a-block fully of buses. Oh dear, this did not look promising. Yes, it’s a popular tourist spot, but it’s freezing cold, the snow is banked up over 10 feet in most places, and it’s low season, isn’t it?? Our driver walked us through the car park and about 10 rows of buses to the suspension bridge which was the access to the village. The bridge was packed with people moving in both directions, photo-takers blocking the flow, and people walking slowly because the packed ice was just darn slippery.
Finally, across, we wandered the streets of this lovely village, the wintery landscape magical. The historic villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, with the cultural property consisting of three historic mountain villages in the remote Shogawa river valley. The valley is in a mountainous region, and the villages are well known for their clusters of farmhouses, constructed in the architectural style known as gassho-zukuri, with thatched roofs designed to easily shed snow. Unless of course they have had so much snow that it just piles up.
The remoteness of the villages and access difficulties meant that the region was quite isolated until the 1950s, and led to the development of its unique culture and traditions, including the Gassho-style farmhouses which have been handed down through the generations.
It was a lovely stop, cold and snowy, not to mention crowded. We explored the streets for an hour or so, and, getting a bit cold, we headed back across the suspension bridge and back to our bus. We were early, but once we woke our driver up and being the only passengers, we set off earlier than the scheduled time. By the time we arrived in Takayama it was getting quite dark. Our bus driver kindly helped get a taxi for us and made sure the driver knew where we needed to go. Thankfully, it was only a short trip and with an easy check-in, we were at our knew home.
Jinya Sunset Inn by Murasaki is a small ryokan directly across from the Takayama Jinya, and not far from the old, traditional part of Takayama. The stairs to our room on the third floor are lethally steep, with very narrow treads, so it was a slow and cautious ascent with our bags. But the room was lovely, spacious and freezing! Thank goodness for heating – it’s in the negatives outside, and there is lots of snow, so as far from Townsville weather as it can get.
With our delightful lunch long behind us, we set off to, you guessed it, Family Mart for some snacks. Our hotel is on the edge of the preserved old town, so a spectacularly beautiful walk across the bridge saw us walking in the old Edo part of town. The streets are not very well lit, so it was hard to see much, but already the vibe is promising and we looked forward to exploring more tomorrow.
With very comfortable beds and a great sleeping temperature, we woke to a lovely view from out room to the Jinya (the collective name of the government buildings from where the region was ruled during the Edo period) just across the street. This is a popular city for day tours, and already tourists were strolling the streets, although the numbers don’t appear to be very high at this stage. We rugged up and set off to explore the Jinya and have a look at the few brave market stall owners who had set up in front.
The entry fee of 440 yen for the Jinya was well worth it. The staff were super friendly and interested in where we were from. The ticket seller was cute with his ‘gidday mate’ so it’s nice to know that Australians are still welcomed. We had to take our shoes off to enter the Jinya – at -2 degrees Celsius, it was going to be a challenge for our toes, but the Jinya didn’t look very big, so it wouldn’t be for long…
About 40 minutes later, we had followed the well signed path around an extensive complex that was beautiful, with gorgeous, snow covered gardens. With valuable timber resources, the Hida Regiona around Takayama was put under direct control the the Tolugawa Shogunate in 1692, with the Takayama Jinya serving as the local government office headed by the officials dispatched from Edo (present day Tokyo).
The building complex was in official use until 1969 and is now open to the public as a museum, with well-maintained tatami rooms that once served as offices, conference rooms, guest rooms and residential space. There is also a large starehouse beside the main building which was built in the 1600s, and was the biggest traditional rice storehouse in Japan. It is a lovely museum, which also stores old documents and books. There are no English translations of the exhibits, but the sense of serenity pervades the museum – although in higher tourist seasons, that sense would be lost.
Our toes had gone from cold to numb to that frozen, painful state, so whilst putting our boots on was welcome, it also hurt. We were guided to a souvenir room which was not really staffed, but it had a heater and seats set around it, with other visitors thawing out. Once our toes began to feel normal again, we set off to find coffee.
We made our way into the old town, walking across the bridge and seeing last night’s beauty in daylight. The blanket of pristine white snow creates a magical scene and the streets with the mountains as a backdrop provide us with plenty of photo opportunities. We were still out and about a little early for Japanese shop owners, so it took a while to find a café that was open, but we did find a quaint one and ordered the coffee and cake special for 1000 yen. The coffee (served in a tea cup) was delicious as was the cheese cake. Fortified, and thoroughly thawed out, we set off to explore some more, enjoying the low tourist numbers, even though there were quite a few tour buses parked nearby.
Hida beef is reknowned for its quality and there are a number of restaurants serving the meat, but before we tried the quality stuff, we allowed ourselves to be tempted by Hida beef hotdogs – sausages on a stick. At 600 yen each, they were expensive, but very tasty and supplemented our sweet breakfast nicely. Our wanderings led us to some very quiet streets, and we decided to check out an antique shop. Lots of lovely items and this would be my pick for souvenir shopping over the tourist shops. As we were leaving, there was a basket with sake cups for 300 yen each. They were probably unbroken parts of sake sets, but we didn’t care about their antiqueness – we both pick one each and, voila! we had our souvenirs.
Takayama old town really is lovely and I’m really glad we made the journey. It would probably be a nightmare in high season with day trippers, but the setting is quite spectacular in winter and crowd numbers are low enough to enjoy the ambiance.
The weather started to turn, so we headed back to our hotel (via Family Mart), too full for lunch, and we decided it was time to splurge and experience the much-lauded Hida steak. Just a few meters from our hotel is Dining Bull, a 4.8 star rated restaurant which we chose as our experience destination. To be safe, we walked to the restaurant and made a reservation for 6pm as reviews mentioned it could be tricky to get a seat and we did not fancy standing around in what promised to be very cold, snowy conditions.
We whiled the afternoon away drinking sake (had to justify our souvenir purchase) and watching the snow falling outside. Apparently, it snows in the region from mid-November to early April, so we are in the thick of it, and I guess that’s the price one pays to avoid the peak seasons. It is so very pretty though, and as slow travellers, we have the time to just sit and enjoy the experience, which, as North Queenslanders, is a novelty.
Six o’clock came around and we set off to the Dining Bull. As the only diners, our reservation was not required, so we had our pick of tables. The staff member was very friendly, and we settled on the top priced menu item of the 300-gram prime rump sharing plate, adding the salad, soup and rice as well.
As we have come to expect, the meal was beautifully, if simply, presented and the steak also came with a plate of roast vegetables. Everything was just delicious, and the beef lived up to expectations. The meat was perfectly cooked medium to rare, melted in your mouth and the crunchy sesame soy sauce that accompanied it was delectable. This was a groan-worthy meal, and I’m just grateful that there was a limited amount to eat – I would happily have gorged myself into a food coma, the meat was so tender and tasty. Well worth the 97000 yen.
The forecast for the next day was for a lot of snow, and that’s just what we woke up to. The space in front of the Jinya had a carpet of snow, which didn’t deter the market stall holders, although I think business was going to be slow for the day. Added to the almost constant snowfall was the gusts of wind which, combined, kept us inside until almost 11am. We had neglected to stock up yesterday, which meant all we had was black tea and chewing gum, so we finally built up our courage and ventured outside. The temperature was pleasant, and we should have brought umbrellas, but the snow fall was light enough that we didn’t get soaked.
We wandered the street on the city side of the river, noting that a lot of shops were closed. We were hoping to stumble across a café or such although we had a plan to eat at the ramen restaurant behind our hotel. We passed a few interesting looking restaurants, one of which we eventually returned to for an early lunch. The photos advertising their pork ramen looked amazing, however it turned out to be a case of false advertising. The young man, the only staff member in the restaurant delivered very limited customer service, and the ramen, whilst ok, was about the worst meal we have had since arriving in Japan. At 1400 yen each, it was far below the standards we have come to expect. Should have gone with our original plan of the ramen restaurant behind us. I guess we didn’t think we cold lose. Lesson learned.
With snow still falling at a regular pace, and my hip playing up, we stop in at Family Mart to stock up for dinner and spent the rest of the afternoon watching some heavy snow falling in between briefs spells of sunshine. There are a couple of lovely looking shrines not far from us so, with the forecast promising a clearer day tomorrow, the plan is to go for a walk and enjoy the Shinto vibe.
While we awoke to cloudy skies, the forecast was for sunshine, so, taking our time, we had a late breakfast and then set off towards Hie Shrine. The shrine is away from the preserved area of Takayama but it was a lovely walk, especially as we stumbled across smaller shrines, and walked past some lovely looking homes. The nicest part of the walk was the smattering of older, traditional styled homes, with their little gardens – the authenticity of the walk and seeing the ‘real’ Takayama was very special.
The walk was not very far and, with a brief ‘should we?’ moment as we gazed at the thickly blanketed steps leading to Hie Shrine, we muscled up and risked death. The trees, branches laden with snow, met overhead, and with the sun shining, not only was the ice melting and dripping, the branches would lose their grip and large clumps of ice would fall to the ground. The walk, however, was beautiful, as was the shrine. Being a less visited part of Takayama, we almost had the shrine to ourselves and we enjoyed the serenity and ambience.
After spending some time at the shrine, we carefully made our way ack down the steps and set off to continue exploring this part of town. Some of the houses are just beautiful, and everything is beautifully maintained. On our return to the tourist centre, we meandered our way around less explored streets and came to the Takayama museum. Being free, we decided to visit and we were surprised at the extent of the museum, so it took us a lot longer to discover the exhibits than we thought it would.
More random wandering in this pretty town to earn our steps for the day took us towards a huge Torii gate we had seen from one of the bridges that crossed the river. I thought there was a shrine at this end of town, especially with such a huge gate, but we either missed it or it was just very small. Feeling like we had discovered a lot more of Takayama, we made our way home with a plan for ramen for dinner to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
The ramen restaurant had great reviews, and we hoped that, being tucked in a small street just behind our hotel, we wouldn’t need a reservation. Even though tourist numbers seemed higher today with the great weather, we were the only customers when we arrived. This was the loveliest restaurant we have been to since being in Japan – the tables were wet low with the floor ‘dug out’ so that it appeared that you were sitting on the floor, and the little courtyard garden, filled with snow, made for a picturesque setting. We were warmly greeted, and our chef was friendly and very happy. The ramen was delightful, the beef skewers beautifully salted and peppered and the beer and sake just right.
Our last day in Takayama was a travel day, but with our bus not leaving until 1.40pm, and luggage storage available, we took advantage of our few hours and enjoyed a great brunch at Coffee don – a great little find, where we enjoyed coffee, juice, thick toast and boiled egg all for just 800 yen. The coffee shop was lovely, the service superb and a great last meal in this charming city.
Most people would come to Takayama and only see the preserved part of town, but this city has so much more to offer. The streets are filled with pockets of old architecture and shrines abound, some small, some large. As we wandered, we walked past a little archery studio and for 700 yen had a lesson in Japanese archery, with 10 arrows to display our skill. Thankfully, food abounds in the convenience stores and restaurants, as neither of us could hit the target.
After visiting another shrine, we decided we had had enough walking, so we collected our luggage and grabbed a taxi to the bus station. We didn’t have too long to wait before our bus arrived and we were on our way to Kyoto. The first hour or two was very scenic as we traversed the mountains and passed snowy villages nestled in the valleys. As we neared the coast, the terrain flattened and lost much of its magic.