Day 10: Takayama
A bit of a sleep in this morning; with the snow overnight as well as our warm and heated room, it was the perfect excuse to have a slow morning.
Our first stop was Falo Coffee Brewers, which was a nice 20 minute walk away from our accomodation. It seems that Takayama is a bit of a sleepy town as the streets were still devoid of tourists and locals. The New Year Holiday was still present in spirit. We stopped several times to admire some of the preserved architecture that the city is known for.
Falo Coffee Brewers was delightful. Already, a couple of other groups were having breakfast and we were greeted with the aroma of coffee alongside the warmth emanating from the fireplace. Cherry had a filter coffee while I opted for my usual oat milk coffee. A warm blueberry muffin accompanied our hot drinks.
Content with our breakfast, we headed off to explore Takayama. The Showakan caught our eye and we stopped to take photos and eventually decided to get tickets to visit the museum displays. We opted for the Retro Pass ticket which, for 2,500yen ($26 AUD), gave us access to the Antique Camera Museum down the road as well as the Takayama Retro Museum nearby.
The Showakan was very well done, adorned with furniture, fittings from the Showa period (1926 to 1989). It really made us feel like we were part of an era we were not born in. It is a deceptively small space, with mirrors making one feel like they are on the streets in the Showa period, complete with signs and billboards. Antique pachinko machines fill a room while the living room space had an old CRT TV playing TV shows from the 70s.
Takayama Showa-kan
〒506-0843 Gifu, Takayama, Shimoichinomachi, 6番地
Satisfied with our time at the Showakan, we set off towards the Miyagawa Morning Market by the riverfront. The town had definitely awoken by then! The narrow street by the riverfront was filled with tourists with many shops selling snacks and local crafts. We took a quick browse and left as quickly as we arrived, avoiding the crowds.
As I was admiring the river from across banks, I noticed an intriguing sign across: “Imai Stationery”. Winning!
Imai Stationery turned out to be a fantastic shop for us stationery fiends. We spent about 30 minutes browsing and ended up with a couple of retractable Curidas fountain pens from Platinum as well as some stickers. Tax deductible too!
Pen Shop IMAI
〒506-0011 Gifu, Takayama, Honmachi, 3-5 ２階
It was time to head for the starting point of the Higashiyama Walking Course. We decided to do the loop in reverse so our journey would begin at the Temple Town (Teramachi). Interestingly, the walk would take us through the more “rural” suburbs of Takayama as well as up and around Shiroyama Park.
On our way to Teramachi, was Old Town, which was definitely a major tourist attraction as the streets were very busy. We stopped to try some gohei-mochi which is coated with soy sauce and mirin before it is barbecued on charcoals. Yum, perfect for the snowy weather too.
Another 10 minutes from Old Town and we found the sign that would direct us onto the Higashiyama Walking Course. At this point, we were pretty much the only tourists about.
We lost track of how many temples we walked past in Teramachi. There were at least a dozen. Many of them are surrounded by sprawling graves that date back centuries with some sites dedicated to important groups of people who contributed to Takayama. For example, an entire section of graves were dedicated to the lumberjacks who made significant contributions to the city. We spent a bit of time respectfully walking around the cemeteries which was signposted as a “Scenic Loop”. The only sounds we heard was that of the light breeze followed by snow falling off trees.
Many of the temples and shrines were closed — perhaps for the priests and monks to gain some respite from the crowds they had to deal with during New Year’s.
The walking course provided us with some gorgeous views of the busy city from a quieter vantage point.
As we exited the Teramachi section of the course, we decided to take a detour through a quiet residential hill to visit the Hie Shrine on the outskirts. Hie Shrine served as a major inspiration for a key location in the hit anime movie, “Your Name”, which Cherry and I are both big fans of.
The Hie Shrine was quite busy with many traffic marshals signposted around to direct traffic as well as to warn pedestrians of oncoming traffic.
Satisfied that we had visited such an iconic place, we backtracked a little to find the entryway into Shiroyama Park. It was at this point that we noticed… the bear warning signs! Having read that many brown bears were facing interrupted hibernation periods, I couldn’t help but worry a little. Hibernate, you bears!
Approaching one of the traffic marshals, I asked in my broken Japanese if we should be worried about bears today. He patiently responded with a chuckle and gestured with his hands and head sideways that the bears were sleeping right now.
Our entryway to Shiroyama Park would take us through some woodlands as well as an empty kids’ park.
Shiroyama Park turned out to be less of a park and more of a hiking trail around a small mountain. It featured gravel tracks filled with ice and snow with many ups and downs; twists and turns. During this time, we still had not encountered any other tourists. Many of the locals walking in the course would politely bow and greet us, a gesture in which we made sure to return.
Being the bear-fearing folk that we were, Cherry and I made sure to ring every public bell we past by, something that is practised more commonly in the warmer months to scare the bears away. Some locals even had bell chimes attached to their backpacks!
Note the bear bell on the left. We found one of these every 250 meters
There were many detours and paths to undertake but we chose to stick mostly to the Higashiyama Walking Course loop. We would later on discover that many of the off beaten tracks would connect in other ways to the loop. Towards the end, we went off the beaten track and passed by a local walking in the other direction with a large camera which means… Photo op! We found a little rest stop with a clear view of the entire Takayama main district. Again, no one else was around us. We took a minute to take in our surroundings… the nature, snow and the stillness of the entire place.
At this point in time, we were three hours into our journey and the gohei-mochi we shared was well and truly digested. We headed downwards towards the entrance of Shiroyama park and started to head towards the retro museum before it closed.
Near the entrance to Shiroyama park, we found a quiet shrine called Hida Gokoku, which is dedicated to people who have lost their lives during wars. A young family with their little daughter manned the reception and we purchased my first “special edition” goshuin which included intricately cut out battleships and patterns set against the temple’s calligraphy.
The little girl showed us her colourful rings and asked us how to say each of the colours in English. Cute!
As we left, the kind family gave us a couple of sweet rice cakes to bid us farewell, a specialty made at their temple. It. Was. Delicious! Just the right texture and sweetness. It made us wish we had a hot cup of tea to savour it with.
It took about 10 minutes to get to the retro museum from Hida Gokoku Shrine. It was much more crowded than the Showakan but the concept was a little different. The retro museum basically has different areas where you can engage in the retro machines or table games. There was even a section where you sit in an old school classroom with chalkboards and wooden tilting desks and yellow caps available to borrow for photos! A young kid was going at it with jackpot machines from the 80s! The prizes were just lollies… gambling hey?
Cherry and I didn’t stay too long. It was very cramped and most of the games required 100yen to play which we weren’t super keen on.
Hida Takayama Retro Museum
4 Chome-7 Shinmeimachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0821
Next stop: sake tasting!
Funasaka Sake Brewery was the first we walked past. It had a very interesting concept where you paid 100yen ($1.20AUD) at the vending machine for tokens. Each token would allow you to dispense one small cup of sake. To get the tasting cup, you insert 200yen to a gachapon machine for a cup of random design. Pretty cool.
For 100yen each per cup of sake… Cherry and I definitely hit the machines hard. Between the two of us, we tried a total of 14 cups of sake.
Funasaka Brewery
105 Kamisannomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0846
Unfortunately, none of the sake really stood out to us so we headed across the road to Harada Sake Brewery. The tasting here was not as automated as Funasaka. You basically pay 450yen (about $5 AUD) and get access to their tasting chiller… with 12 different sakes to try. Limited to one pour from each bottle. Cheaper! And tastier!
By my 7th pour, the alcohol had definitely gotten into my head! Keep in mind we only had coffees, a muffin, a gohei mochi, and a sweet rice cake all day. We identified two bottles we really liked and bought them as gifts for some dear friends of ours. The sake at Harada had really interesting umami flavours which really stood out. But then again… we were pretty inebriated at this point.
Harada Brewery
10 Kamisannomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0846, Japan
Cherry and I could barely walk straight but we decided to head out towards Ajikura Tengoku, another famous Hida Beef Yakiniku restaurant that was next to our hotel. Arriving at 4pm, there was an already a decent line outside! Cherry offered to queue up while I headed back to the hotel to drop off our backpacks and sake bottles.
By the time I returned, we had secured a number in line. Service would start at 5pm but we were allowed into the warm waiting area with the rest of the line at 4.30pm. It began snowing again, but no problem, the sake in our bellies kept us very warm.
Thankfully, we secured a table in the first seating and proceeded to feast…
The marbling on the cuts here at Ajikura was definitely better than at Gyu-suke. Truly melt in your mouth cuts. However, I was still impressed with the tasty, tender lean cuts we had the night before. No complaints though, Hida beef is delicious.
The total bill came to 19,200 yen ($194 AUD), which was surpassingly cheaper than at Gyu-suke, given the generous marbling and premium grade beef we had with dessert to boot.
Ajikura Tengoku
4 Chome-308 Hanasatomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0026
With our tummies filled, it was time to head back to our hotel to rest our sore feet and well fed bellies with a nice, hot soak in the onsen.
Our favourite part about Takayama Ouan’s onsen was the outdoor section where you can soak in 40-45 degree hot mineral springs water while watching the snow fall onto the Takayama cityscape. Beautiful.
Unfortunately, we both realised separately that sake and hot springs don’t mix and we returned to our rooms early as we felt very lightheaded.
A long and fulfilling day exploring Takayama and its rural surrounds — time to head to bed…
