Takayama on a Roll

Trip Start Sep 23, 2008

Trip End Nov 03, 2008

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Where I stayed

Zenko-ji

(Takayama hotels)

Flag of Japan Takayama, Chubu, Japan
Saturday, October 11, 2008

Today we departed from Takayama,, a small city with a big history set in a valley in the Japanese alps of central Honshu. We hurried there from Hokkaido to arrive in time for the harvest festival in which eleven ornate floats, perhaps fifteen feet tall, are paraded about town. As darkness falls, paper lanterns are lit and hung from each float in multiple rings. Men in traditional costumes pull and push them with the real excitement coming when they must make a right angle turn at a corner in a narrow lane. This is because most of the floats are supported by four wagon wheels that have no steering mechanism, requiring that a hidden fifth wheel in the center be lowered and the whole contraption tipped so that it can swivel on three wheels. Atop each float rides a bunch of children, so as the float tips, one has a vicarious, vertiginous dread that the kids may come tumbling on down from the heights. But, precarious as it looks, despite occasional gasps from the rapt crowd, there were no mishaps.

Tourists also come to Takayama to see the neighborhood of Edo Period merchant shops. Like Georgetown in D.C., these structures ranging from two- to four-hundred years old are quite narrow because buildings were taxed by their frontage. Now offering regional delicacies to tourists, the quarter gives one a flavor of old Japan that is no longer so easy to find.

We stayed at Zenko-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple that now serves mostly as a hostel. It is well worn, but comfortable, well sited and, for Japan, cheap. As these are rooms of traditional Japanese construction, the walls are literally paper thin, so your night's rest is dependent upon the kindness of strangers and whether or not they snore. A bonus is the large and very well equipped eat-in kitchen.

We came to Takayama by way of a flight to Toyama and a slow-going local bus ride of two and a half hours to the World Heritage Site of Shirakawa-go. We really enjoyed riding the milk-run from which we could take in a series of villages with a lot of small-scale agriculture. Shirakawa-go is really a set of three closely set villages which contain a number of traditional gassho-zukari (praying hands) houses with steep roofs that are deeply thatched, rather like an A-frame house. The large houses that are seen there today give a misleading perception of rural life in the region. These surviving structures were those of village heads and their extended families and much of the house was given over to raising silkworms. Most people lived in simlar structures the size of a toolshed. It's very touristy, but well worth taking in.

We are now on a train headed for Nagoya, a major industrial center and international gateway. It is a lovely ride, gradually descending thorough valleys offering views of rushing rivers flanked by forested mountains and passing through small towns with small-scale logging here and there. The expected highlight of our stay there is the tour of the nearby Toyota factory.