On planning our trip around Japan we really wanted to experience some different festivals, as there are always lots of different festivals going on at different time of the year. We had found out that in Takayama there was the … festival on when we would be in Japan so we planned in it as a place to visit.
From Sendai we caught the Komachi train to Omiya (1 hr 8 mins) where we then took the train to Toyama before then taking the train to Takayama. Due to it being festival season there we struggled to get accommodation for our entire time there but were lucky enough to find Guesthouse Daruma for part of our stay in Takayama itself. After dumping our bags we went to explore the town. It is a stunning town with the river dividing the beautiful old town with traditional shop fronts selling local artisanal produce, traditional crafts and restaurants as well as tourist gifts and then the more modern part of town with some fantastic restaurants and cool coffee shops. The place itself had a fantastic, vibrant atmosphere and that was before the festival was actually on. The area itself is known for expensive Hida beef and seasame. We found a small shop selling hida beef sushi rolls, as we were there we just had to try a bit of Hida beef and this was one way of trying it slightly cheaper (still 600 for a couple of sushi rolls). It was worth the money though and the beef melted in your mouth. We wandered down to the Sakura free footbath to rest our feet for a while before walking around the Old Town. We explored the free art and history museum before chilling out at the hostel. For dinner we found a cute local curry shop called Curry Factory where we had some Katsu Curry (900), which was delicious.
In the morning we wandered to the river to explore the Miyagawa morning market on a gloriously sunny morning. It was bustling and there were lots of vibrant fresh fruit and vegetables as well as traders selling street food. We tasted some sake, different pancake snacks, fried chicken, chestnut pancakes and coffee milk. Wandering through the old town streets we saw a lot of the floats out on the streets that would be part of the parades later. This gave us a chance to see some of them up close. They were impressively detailed and ornate. Throughout the town the festival was getting under way with lots of different music playing, street food vendors and dragon dances. There were events and sights through the old down up to Hachiman Shine. We bought drinks exploring the sights of the festival and then sitting on the river front watching the storks. After nearly missing it and chasing it through the streets we watched the Goshinko, which is the small portable shrine procession through the streets admiring all the costumes and different musical accompaniments. This was followed by a procession of 4 of the large floats. After grabbing a quick lunch at 7/11 we walked to the footbath to soothe feet from walking around so much.
We then had to check out and move to a different hostel (Takayama Station Relax Hostel) due to Guesthouse Daurma not having space for that night. In this hostel we were in a dorm room but the room had a lot of double beds in space rooms divided by pull down screens making it like a capsule room. At 6pm we went out for the festival evening grabbing beers to have during it from 7/11. There were lots of people out for the festival and we watched the floats parading down the street in the dark with their lanterns, music and lion dances. For dinner we went out to Chapalas a small Mexican place for beef tacos and burritos, not the most traditional Mexican food but still tasty and very filling.
The following morning we checked out and grabbed out free hostel breakfast before dropping our bags back at Guesthouse Daruma. We wandered through the morning markets again grabbing more fried chicken. Then we explored the Higashiyama walking course past multiple temples, through the cooling forests with the leaves just turning to autumn colours, local houses and castle ruins before circling back into town. The walking course was very peaceful and gave us gorgeous sights. We grabbed more Hida beef sushi and beef Hida skewers (600 and 400) which was delicious. We chilled out balancing this out with salad and drinks by the river. We grabbed sesame ice cream before trying out Hanomi footbath. On our way back we stopped into a cool modern coffee shop then in the evening we had Hida beef burgers and chips (890) before sorting out blogs at the hostel.
After packing up our belonging, grabbing breakfast at 7/11 we then stopped for coffee at Traveller Coffee (aeropress 400Y). We walked around the town, picking up some lunch for our train to Toyama/Kanazawa. We were stunned by the beauty of Takayama, the vibrancy of the festival and the contrast between the traditional and the modern. Definitely a recommended place to visit in Japan.
Alex
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