Hare Tokidoki Kumori (Sunny with a Few Clouds): Travel Entry

For Kaz's birthday weekend, we took an overnight trip to the city of Takayama. Takayama is located in the Hida region of Gifu Prefecture (about a two-hour train ride from Nagoya). The city is nestled in the heart of the Japanese Alps and retains a traditional touch (unlike most other Japanese cities). Much of the town has been preserved, which allows guests to experience what a rural Japanese town may have been like long ago.

Views from the train...

We started out our trip with a very scenic train ride that wound us up into the mountains. The sun was shining and it was so neat to be able to relax and take in the beauty. Public transit in Japan is wonderful!

Once we arrived in Takayama, we decided to take a walk through Shiroyama Park. The weather was beautiful and we were able to explore the ruins of Takayama Castle. It was quite a steep climb with lots of stairs as we made our way to about 2,200 feet above sea level. Construction began on the castle in 1588 and it was completed in 1600. The castle was demolished in 1695 - though nothing I have read has been able to give me a clear reason as to why or how the castle was demolished.

View from the top

Standing in the main room of the castle

About to climb the front steps of the castle

Panoramic Shot!

Brown sugidama - sake is ready!

After walking through the park, we made our way into Old Town - which is the part of Takayama that has been preserved. The streets are lined with shops, restaurants, and sake breweries. Sugidama, which are special balls made of cedar branches, hang over the entrances of the sake breweries (so you can identify them quickly). The color of the sugidama is also an indication of how the sake is maturing - a green sugidama indicates that the sake has just been pressed and a brown sugidama indicates that the sake has matured and is ready to be consumed. All the breweries we passed had brown sugidama!

Kaz with his sake!

We couldn't walk past all the sake breweries without doing a tasting. I've only had sake once in my life - and that was when it was mixed with a very sugary juice...so I couldn't even taste it. The breweries had a wide selection of sakes - and you could taste whichever ones you liked for 100-200JPY (about $1-$2). Kaz tried more "traditional" flavors of sake - while I tried the more "fruity" flavors (plum and yuzu - a Japanese lemon-like fruit). While my tastings were served in small glasses - Kaz's tastings were served in a more traditional way...in a wooden box (called a masu - which used to be a measuring cup). The masu is placed on a small saucer and then the sake is poured into it - until it overflows just a little bit onto the saucer. I was intrigued as to why the server allowed the sake to overflow (since it made a bit of a mess). Kaz told me that sake is served that way so that people don't feel like they are being cheated out of "not getting a full serving" of sake.

Yummy lunch!

With our bellies full of sake, we decided that lunch was needed before more sightseeing. Like most areas in Japan, Takayama is known for its local foods. Some of them include sansai (mountain vegetables - usually pickled); soba; miso; and, Hida-gyu (Hida-beef). We enjoyed a delicious lunch of cold soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) and vegetable tempura (lightly-fried vegetables in a crispy panko batter) before heading across town to explore Takayama Jinya.

Hida-gyu Sushi (lightly seared beef over rice)

The streets of Old Town

The entrance of Takayama Jinya

Takayama Jinya is a historic government house that was built by the central government in the 17th century. It is actually the only remaining office of its kind in all of Japan and was really neat to walk through. I was excited that many of the signs were in English - so I was able to read a bit more about the building's history. Each of the rooms had an interesting story and I would recommend a visit if you are ever in the area. On the day that we visited, there were craftsman giving a demonstration and I was able to try my hand at "shaving wood" using a Japanese plane tool. Interestingly, this eliminates the need for sandpaper as it leaves the wood very smooth!

Attempting to shave wood

Inside Takayama Jinya

Onsen!

After exploring Takayama Jinya, we headed back to our ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) to enjoy soaking in the onsens. We were lucky enough to have our own private onsen in our room that overlooked the town below. I still haven't experienced the public onsens yet - though I need to just muster up the courage and take that plunge soon! Compared to our ryokan experience in February - we were able to figure out the yukata "putting on" process in about half the time (which was still about twenty minutes). Our server at dinner even commented that I looked "kawaii" (cute) in my yukata. Our meal was delicious - and there were only a few items that looked too questionable for me to eat. I was proud of myself for trying roe (fish eggs), raw shrimp (never again), and eel (okay in small quantities and when mixed with rice). The fish on a stick and mini-crab (which still looked like a crab) were too much! The neat thing about the meals at ryokans is that they specialize in serving food unique to that area - so we had amazing beef, miso, and milk!

Morning Market

Blessing...

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast (again featuring local foods) before heading out to enjoy the morning markets. Every morning two farmer's markets are held in Takayama - one along the Miya River and the other in front of Takayama Jinya. We found that the one along the river was much bigger and featured free samples of many local Japanese foods and snacks. There were also many craftsmen selling beautiful wood pieces - as Takayama is known for their carpentry. As we were walking, I was able to see a Shinto priest perform a traditional blessing on food offerings at a small shrine. It was really neat!

We spent our afternoon at the Hida Folk Museum (Minzoku-kan), which is an outdoor museum that displays traditional architecture and thatched roof houses (many of which have been relocated from the UNESCO World Heritage Site - Shirakawa-go). When you first walk in, there is a street full of old Japanese games and toys that you can try our for yourself. We were pretty good at the bamboo water guns - but not so good at the bamboo stilts! Then, following the numbers on the map - you can walk from site to site...and spend as much time as you want enjoying them. It took us about 80 minutes to see all of the sites - but the map had shortened courses that took you to the highlighted sites only, if you were short on time.

YUM!

From there we headed back to the train station to start our trip home...however, not without making sure we grabbed a gyu-man (beef-filled steamed bun) before we left!

Takayama was a really fun place to visit - and I think it will become one of the "must-visit" places on our lists of places to recommend to visitors. Next time, we will try to plan our visit during the Takayama Festival, which is held every spring and fall, and features intricately-crafted floats said to be a testament to the region’s history (of artistry and craftsmanship).

Side note... :)

While in Takayama - we saw these "red dolls" EVERYWHERE! I was curious what they were - so we looked them up (before buying a few as souvenirs). The dolls are called "sarubobos" - which literally means 'baby monkey' in Japanese. Traditionally, sarubobos are made by grandmothers for their grandchildren as dolls, and for their daughters as a charm for good marriage, good children and to ensure a well-rounded couple. The dolls do not have any facial features because they are said to "take on" the emotion that their owner is feeling at any given time. Over time, many other color sarubobos have emerged - each color having their own meaning. (Red: marriage and family; Gold/Yellow: money, success, gambling; Pink: love; Orange: friendship, children, traveling; Blue: study and job; Green: peace and health; Purple: longevity and success; Black: protection from evil).