Takayama: Old Houses, Famed Festivals, and Lots of People!

Takayama is a city high up in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture, tucked away in part of the Japan Alps. Towering mountains surround the city, and this isolation has partially served to preserve Takayama. Called a "Little Kyoto" for its magnificent representation of traditional Japanese culture, it has wonderfully preserved old streets and shops, where Edo-era buildings still stand and function. And as the cornerstone of the entire Hida region, a part of Gifu Prefecture famed throughout Japan as a place where the traditional mountain way of life remains intact, it attracts people... lots of people.

It probably didn't help that I went to Takayama on a festival weekend. And not just any festival weekend. I visited during THE festival weekend. Takayama's Aki Matsuri (Autumn Festival), along with Kyoto's famed Gion Matsuri and Chichibu's Yoi Matsuri, is one of Japan's Three Great Festivals. So naturally people were there in droves. All day long, and especially during the famous parade on Saturday eveing, the streets were lined with Japanese and foreign tourists alike. The distinction came in that the Japanese tourists knew what to do, and the foreign tourists went about things in their own way and tried there best not to offend anyone.

The festival is magnificent. Begun in 1690 as a way to thank the gods for a plentiful rice harvest, the festival has evolved into a weekend that centers around the procession of a series of 15 ornate parade floats. The entire event is aranged by the Sakuragawa Hachimangu Shrine in the northern part of Takayama. The community of Takayama is broken down into sections, almost like wards, that fall unde the protection of the gods of Sakuragawa Hachimangu and Hie Jinja Shrines. Each of these groups is called a yatai gumi, and each group is responsible for one float. Over the years these floats have grown increasingly large and ornate, and are symbols of pride for their yadai gumi. Each one houses a shrine and is encased with elaborate decorations of emrboidered tapestries, hanging scrolls, and splendid wood carvings famed throughout Japan. Atop each float is an eye-catching pinnacle of various shapes. On some, the float is topped with phoenixes, wings spread the tails a-flutter. Others are topped with wizened old turtles or firece dragons. All are covered in brilliant gold leaf, so they radiate in the midday sun and glow in the lantern-light of evening.
On October 7 of each year, the Sakuragawa Hachimangu Shrine decides the order of the procession of the parade floats. Parades fill the weekend, but the climax of the festival is the parade on the night of October 9. The old streets in the center of the city are lit by lanterns and torches. Visitors and locals line the streets (but the locals tend to have a better grasp of where to go and what paraphenalia can help make watching the parade a lot easier in such immsense crowds -- foot stools!). Each float is pulled by costumed participants. They wear the garb of old Takayama -- brilliantly-colored kimono and hapi-coats. They pull the floats and expertly manuever them around street corners, all the while avoiding scrambling pedestrians, power lines, and low-hanging beams from houses. The turning of the floats is the real spectacle of the night-time parade, and I was lucky enough to be positioned near one of the parade routes several turns. The musical float started, and the band, with its big drum affixed to the top of the float, played and played while boys and young men from Takayama performed a lion dance, swirling around the base of the float. As each float came to the turn, the costumed participants toyed with the crowd, turning the float one direction, then another. They constantly out-performed their predecessors, and the hundreds of observers cheered and clapped. Over 1000 townspeople participated in the events of the weekend, and all were enthusiastic and exquisitely costumed.

During the daylight hours of the weekend, you can wander the streets of Takayama, exploring interesting nooks and crannies, poking your head in quaint shops filled with traditional handicrafts, and sample the culinary delights of this famous city. We randomly stumbled into a fantastic little restaurant which served udon, a type of noodle. Two cute little old women ran the shop, and whipped up some of the best miso-ramen I've ever tasted. Little treasures like that are just tucked away in obscure pockets of the city.
The floats are on display in the yard of Sakuragawa Hachimangu Shrine, so naturally the shrine precincts are packed. The various float storehouses throughout the city are also open for the public to examine. Marionette performances on the various floats are dedicated to the gods of the festival. Just be warned... it's crowded! It's also a little strange to be walking through a fairly modern section of the city when you turn a corner and realize you're walking behind a man in traditional samurai dress. He's hurrying on his way to join the festivities, cigarette in one hand and cell-phone in the other.

Undoubtedly, Takayama is a wonderful place. I have seen few cities in Japan that can rival its charming old streets lined with magnificent Edo-era houses (Kanazawa, Kyoto, Matsue, and Hirosaki are all nice places as well). Traditional culture is alive here, and handicrafts fill the stores on the tourist streets. You can feel the old way of life when you are in the historic section of the city, and stumbling into quiet little alleys, cramped old noodle shops, and isolated temple gardens can reveal the secrets of the city. I'm just sorry I didn't have more time to explore the city, but then I can always save that for a future visit.

Here are some photos from my trip to Takayama with my friends Sano and Karin on October 9-10, 1999. (click on the picture for a bigger version).