Being isolated in the mountains it is very cute and quaint, and retains some of its old traditions.
Because of the cooler mountain weather the cherry blossoms bloomed a little bit later than in Tokyo, so we were fortunate to see lots of cherry blossoms.
One of Takayama's local specialties is sake, a Japanese rice wine.
In the old town there are several
old sake breweries, some of which have been in business for centuries.
Distinguishing the breweries, shops or
restaurants specializing in sake are the “sugidama”, balls made of cedar
branches, that hang over their entrances. Historically, they were hung out in front of sake breweries just when the first batch of sake was pressed each year.
There are some shops totally devoted to selling just sake.
Some of them had tastings dispensed out of vending machines.
Takayama's old town has been well
preserved with many buildings and whole streets of houses dating back to
the feudal ages when the city thrived as a wealthy merchant town.
Hida Folk Village in Takayama is an open-air museum exhibiting over 30 traditional houses from the mountain district around Takayama.
The houses were built during the Edo
Period (1603-1868) and were relocated from their original locations to
create the museum.
It is set up to look like an old village and
features buildings such as a former village head's house, logging huts,
storehouses.
I was fascinated by the gassho-zukuri
farmhouses, which are named after their steep thatched roofs.
They are
described as resembling a pair of hands joined in prayer ("gassho"). The
thickness of the thatch roof astounds me.
They were moved here from nearby Shirakawago, where gassho-zukuri houses
are the reason for the region's World Heritage status.
This little guy greets visitors as they cross the bridge to town.
These visitors waited patiently to have their photo taken with the cherry blossoms backdrop.
A perfect spot for Facebook, Instagram and blog photos.
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