Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [198]
From the temple, instead of retracing your steps, walk back along Ichi-no-Machi, a street sprinkled with shops selling woodworking and handcrafted toys, sake breweries (marked by the large balls of cedar fronds above the entrance) and traditional storehouses. Among them is Mishima Wa-rosoku Ten (; 73-4109; 9am-6pm Thu-Tue), a shop that has made traditional candles for over two centuries.
Festivals & Events
Furukawa Matsuri, as Hadaka Matsuri is formally known (it’s also known as Naked Festival), takes place every 19 and 20 April with parades of yatai. The highlight is an event known as Okoshi Daiko in which, on the night of the 19th, squads of boisterous young men dressed in fundoshi (loincloths) parade through town, competing to place small drums atop a stage bearing a giant drum. OK, it’s not naked-naked, but we didn’t make up the name.
During Kitsune-bi Matsuri (Fox Fire Festival) on the fourth Saturday in September, locals dress up as foxes, parade through the town by lantern light and enact a wedding at Okura Inari-jinja. The ceremony, deemed to bring good fortune, climaxes with a bonfire.
Sleeping & Eating
Hida Furukawa Youth Hostel (; /fax 75-2979; www.jyh.or.jp/english/toukai/hidafuru/index.html; dm ¥3300, with 2 meals ¥4900; closed 30 Mar-10 Apr; ) A friendly and attractive 22-bed hostel, across from Shinrin-kōen. It’s about 6km from the town centre, or 1.2km west of Hida-Hosoe Station (two stops north of Hida-Furukawa). In winter the hostel can help guests get set up for telemark skiing. Pick-up from the station is available after 6pm with advance notice. Both Japanese- and Western-style rooms are available.
Kitchen Kyabingu (; 73-4706; mains ¥850-2200; lunch & dinner Tue-Sun) This cosy lunch spot in the historic district serves Hida-gyū. Order the beef curry with rice (¥1050) or the kyabingu teishoku (¥2600), starring sizzling steak on a hot iron plate.
Getting There & Around
Some 20 daily trains run each way between Takayama and Furukawa. Hida-Furukawa train station is three stops north of Takayama (futsū, ¥230, 15 minutes), or you can bus it (¥360, 30 minutes). Central Furukawa is an easy stroll, or hire bikes at the taxi office Miyagawa (73-2321; per hr ¥200), near the station. Staff here can also store your luggage for ¥200 each day or a portion thereof.
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SHIRAKAWA-GŌ & GOKAYAMA
These remote, dramatically mountainous districts between Takayama and Kanazawa are best known for farmhouses in the thatched, A-frame style called gasshō-zukuri (see the boxed text). They’re rustic and lovely, particularly in clear weather or in the region’s copious snows, and they hold a special place in the Japanese heart.
In the 12th century the region’s remoteness is said to have attracted stragglers from the Taira (Heike) clan, virtually wiped out by the Minamoto (Genji) clan in a brutal battle in 1185. During feudal times Shirakawa-gō, like the rest of Hida, was under direct control of the Kanamori clan, connected to the Tokugawa shōgun, while Gokayama was a centre for the production of gunpowder for the Kaga region, under the ruling Maeda clan (Click here).
Fast-forward to the 1960s: when construction of the gigantic Miboro Dam over the river Shōkawa was about to submerge some local villages, many gasshō houses were moved to their current sites for safekeeping. Although much of what you’ll find has been specially preserved for, and supported by, tourism, it still presents a view of rural life found in few other parts of Japan.
Most of Shirakawa-gō’s sights are in the heavily visited community of Ogimachi; a new expressway from Takayama has made it even more crowded. In less-crowded Gokayama (technically not in Hida but in Toyama-ken), the community of Ainokura has the greatest concentration of attractions; other sights are spread throughout hamlets over many kilometres along