Takayama 高山
19th - 21st October
It was raining again on the morning that we left Kanazawa. Meeting people that had started their visit to Japan in Tokyo and worked their way down the country we realised how lucky we had been to date with our time in the south. One couple said that they had been in Japan for over two weeks and it had rained every single day. They bemoaned their luck and claimed to be cursed. I think they saw the funny side when I asked where they were going next because I just wanted to check that it was a different place to us.
We were to catch the highway bus today and stop off at the small village of Shirakawago which is made up of traditional thatched roof houses some of which date back 250 years and more.
We arrived at bus stop 4 with plenty of time but after a few minutes we realised that something wasn’t right with lots of small local buses pitching up and not a word in English anywhere. With a few minutes to spare we found bus stop 4 West exit on the other side of the station. Lucky because we had a booked seat on the 11 o’clock and every bus afterwards was fully booked.
The total journey time today at two and a bit hours was almost the same as the train journey from Kyoto to Kanazawa but look how much the distance travelled varies by.
Pretty much everyone on the bus were tourists and when we arrived at Shirakawago, pretty much everyone got off. It’s what you do here.
The thatched roofed farmhouse dwellings here are examples of Gassho-Zukuri architecture designed with steep pitches to keep off the winter snow. Beautifully crafted buildings each with a field and veg patch in self sustaining off grid harmony. If only it wasn’t crawling with tourists!
There are many more houses like this scattered remotely in the hills of this area but thankfully they are hard to get to and therefore have some chance of retaining their privacy and way of life away from the hurly burly of 21st century living. This village though has a feeling of theme park and the locals must feel like animals in the zoo with hoards and hoards of tourists guaping into their houses and gardens taking photos and being loud.
We opted to walk up the hill to the viewing platform to avoid the worst of the rabble as well as the overcrowded shuttle bus than ran up and down the road.
We’ve definitely noticed that the quality of the tourists has declined since moving away from the south and as we hit the box tick locations that are covered by most tour groups. Places like Kyoto and even Kanazawa are big enough to cope with it and maintain their own identity but here, where the number of tours buses outnumber the thatched houses, there is no chance. Gone is the courtesy and politeness of people on the street or using restaurants etc. instead there is ugliness, rudeness and entitlement.
We were a bit embarrassed to be part of this and were quite glad to move on.
Nice drain covers though!
Arriving in a new place is often disorientating and Takayama was no different. The guide book that we have from inside Japan is very good though and combined with the roaming Wi-Fi dongle that we hired means that we only have to work out which direction we are facing and then get going for the hotel.
We were going through this process after getting off the bus when we were approached by an Aussie couple of a similar age to us. They saw our book and said that they were also travelling with the same company as us but had found the whole thing way too confusing to cope with. We tried to show them how to use Google maps and when that didn’t work, we lead them to where their hotel was. For the whole ten minutes walk, they moaned about there being too much walking, getting on and off buses and trains as well as being underwhelmed by pretty much everything they’d seen. Seems as though there might be national trait developing here.
We had reviewed where we would be staying in Takayama whilst we were enjoying the luxury and comfort of the splendid room in Kanazawa. We kicked ourselves that we had not been more thorough about vetting hotels before we booked the trip as we were now facing the prospect of another couple of uncomfortable nights on the floor.
The Inside Japan booklet talked up the splendour and authenticity of the traditional ryokan. It promises a stay in luxury that would not be quickly forgotten. Time would tell.
Turns out that this is one of the oldest inn establishments in a pretty old town and whilst a little worn around the edges, was very nicely presented and, in its own way, luxurious. A welcome drink of sake and a dip in the onsen helped to soften us up.
When we first entered the room we did wonder why there was a low table in the room where the bed should have been but quickly realised that this is where we would be having the kaiseki ‘banquet’ before the room was made up for the night. Shoes off of course and evening wear of yukata (bit like a kimono but simpler.
The feast was really good and even Pauline enjoyed it! We had both stipulated no shell fish and Pauline had asked for no fish at all. Didn’t stop them including a prawn each though 🤮. Hey! If you don’t like em, you don’t like em.
We had experienced this before and Patrick had dealt with it by saying ‘nothing from the sea’ but on that occasion seaweed was still served🧐. In the end, it’s easier just to leave what you don’t like.
Sorry, we don’t have any beds but you can crash on the lounge floor if you like.
Dinner service cleared away and beds made up. We have two mattresses each which made the sleeping on the floor thing slightly more acceptable and certainly more comfortable than in Koyasan. (Pauline disclosed that she also had two mattresses there but thought it better not to tell me about it. Unbelievable!)
After a breakfast served in bed, which seemed to consist mostly of leftovers from last night, we set off walking the streets of Takayama on a splendid sunny day.
Dating back to the mid 17th century, the town was a little visited hamlet until quite recently. It is now on the ‘must see’ list for central Honshu and has a lot of tourists. Apart from the busy morning market though it doesn’t feel too crowded and you only have to go a few blocks away from the centre to find lovely quiet temples and back streets where locals go about their business.
Even the perfect picture postcard main streets don’t feel too overfilled.
Calmness flows through every space with beautiful little gardens tucked into the corners of shops and cafes.
There seems to be a shrine on every corner.
And weird and wonderful statues.
With Pauline resting at the hotel, I went off for a walk in the afternoon to find the ruins of the castle that used to stand on the hill looking down across the town. TLP had promised big views but when I did find the place where the fortifications used to be I couldn’t see anything much through the tall, dense trees that have evidently grown up since the research team last visited. There wasn’t really much to see in the way of ruins either but there were plenty of signs warning about bears! These signs heavily outweighed any path way signs and without Google, I would have been bear supper.
I worked my way back to the hotel through areas that had no other tourists at all. It was very pleasant.
In spite of being busy again in the evening there didn’t seem to be a huge choice of places to eat and once again we found that most of the top choices on the internet turned out to be fictitious.
We ended up in the Hida beef restaurant adjacent to our hotel. It was expensive but very good. It was certainly good to know what was on the plate for a change as well as there being no hint of seaweed!
we feel like we are getting used to travelling around on our own now and are enjoying exploring the new towns and cities that our itinerary brings us. Good job really because our two night stay in Hida Takayama had come to an end and we were heading off East every closer to the capital.