Takayama: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Takayama, in the mountains of Hida, kept the wooden streets of an Edo-era merchant town. Its forests were so valuable that in 1692 the shogun took the province under his direct rule, and its carpenters were famed across Japan. Half a day on foot; the morning markets close around noon.
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A short history of Takayama
In 1586 the samurai Kanamori Nagachika received the Hida province and built a castle at Takayama, with a town around it where merchants and craftsmen lived. In 1692 the shoguns brought the area under their direct control because of its forest timber and metal mines, and the castle was dismantled. The governor's office, Takayama Jinya, served as the seat of government until 1868, and it is the only government house from that period in Japan to survive intact. The town was isolated in the mountains, which is why its streets of old wooden houses were preserved. The Takayama Festival, with its decorated floats, is held twice a year, in spring and autumn.
The ten best sights in Takayama
1Hida KokubunjiA pagoda and an ancient ginkgo near the station
2Takayama JinyaThe shogun’s government office
3Nakabashi BridgeThe red bridge over the Miyagawa
4Sanmachi SujiLanes of Edo-era merchant houses and breweries
5Kusakabe Folk MuseumA merchant house of 1879
6Yoshijima HouseA brewer’s house of light and beams
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7Festival Floats Hall
The festival floats all year round
8Sakurayama HachimanguThe shrine of the autumn festival
9Hie ShrineThe shrine of the spring festival
10ShorenjiA temple hall moved from a flooded valley
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Takayama →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Takayama:
Free walking tours in Takayama
The merchant town
Takayama, in the mountains of Hida, kept the wooden streets of an Edo-era merchant town. Its forests were so valuable that in 1692 the shogun took the province under his direct rule, and its carpenters were famed across Japan. Half a day on foot; the morning markets close around noon.
- Takayama Jinya · The offices from which the shogun’s governors ruled Hida, with a courtroom, a torture room and a rice storehouse for the taxes. It is the only one of some sixty such regional offices of the shogunate to survive, and it was used as a government office until 1969.
- Sanmachi Suji · Three parallel lanes of dark wooden merchant houses with latticed fronts. The sake breweries hang a ball of cedar twigs over their doors; it is hung green when the new sake is pressed and turns brown as the sake matures.
- Miyagawa Morning Market · A row of stalls along the river where farmers’ wives have sold vegetables, pickles and flowers since the Edo period. Look for sarubobo, faceless red cloth dolls of a baby monkey, the Hida charm for a safe birth and a happy marriage.
- Kusakabe Folk Museum · The house of a wealthy merchant family, rebuilt in 1879 after a fire, with a great open hall of massive beams that shows the skill of the Hida carpenters. In the Nara period, Hida paid its tax not in rice but in carpenters, sent to build the temples of the capital.
- Festival Floats Hall · Takayama’s spring and autumn festivals are counted among the most beautiful in Japan, with towering lacquered floats, some carrying mechanical karakuri puppets that perform on top. Some of the floats are kept here between festivals; the float festivals of Japan were recognised by UNESCO in 2016.
- Sakurayama Hachimangu · The shrine at the heart of the October festival, when the floats are paraded through the northern half of town and lit with lanterns after dark.
Temples, hills and farmhouses
Around the old town are temples, a castle hill and an open-air museum of mountain farmhouses. Half a day on foot and by bus.
- Hida Kokubunji · A temple founded in the eighth century as the official provincial temple of Hida, the oldest building in Takayama, with a three-storey pagoda and a ginkgo tree said to be some twelve hundred years old.
- Nakabashi Bridge · The red lacquered bridge over the Miyagawa river, the symbol of Takayama, framed by cherry trees in April when the spring festival floats are brought out.
- Shorenji · A temple hall of the early sixteenth century, among the oldest buildings of its sect, which stood in the Shirakawa valley until the Miboro dam flooded it; in 1961 it was taken apart and rebuilt here, on the castle hill.
- Shiroyama Park · The wooded hill where the castle of the Kanamori lords stood until the shogun took control of the province and had it dismantled; paths lead past its foundations to views of the Alps.
- Hie Shrine · A shrine among great cedars at the southern edge of town, the guardian shrine of the April festival, when the floats of the southern quarters gather.
- Hida Folk Village · An open-air museum of about thirty farmhouses moved here from the valleys of Hida, among them steep thatched gassho houses, with demonstrations of the old crafts.
Shirakawa-go and Furukawa
An hour west by bus lies Shirakawa-go, a village of thatched houses in a snowy valley; fifteen minutes north by train, the canal town of Furukawa. A full day; book the Shirakawa bus ahead in busy seasons.
- Shirakawa-go · A village of gassho-zukuri houses, named for roofs as steep as hands joined in prayer, built to shed the heavy snow. Their huge attics were used to raise silkworms. With nearby Gokayama it was made a World Heritage site in 1995.
- Wada House · The largest gassho house in the village, home of a family of village headmen who grew rich making saltpetre for gunpowder from silkworm droppings and grass. The thatch is still renewed by the villagers together, a custom called yui.
- Myozenji · A temple with a thatched main hall, priests’ house and even a thatched bell tower, a rare sight, where the attics show how the roof beams are bound with rope, not nails.
- Shiroyama Viewpoint · A lookout on the hill above the village, the place of the famous view of the roofs among rice fields — and in winter, on a few evenings of illumination, of the houses glowing under snow.
- Setogawa Canal · In Furukawa, a canal lined with white-walled storehouses, in which hundreds of carp swim; in winter they are moved to a pond so they will not freeze.
- Furukawa Festival Hall · The hall of the Okoshi Daiko, the April night festival in which a great drum is carried through town while teams fight to get their small drums close to it. Furukawa’s station and streets were models for the 2016 animated film Your Name.
Getting to Takayama and getting around
- Takayama Station · The Hida limited express from Nagoya, about two and a half hours
Cheap eats in Takayama
Takayama eats on its feet: Hida beef, the marbled beef of the mountains, grilled on skewers or pressed onto rice crackers as nigiri; mitarashi dango, rice dumplings glazed with soy sauce rather than the sweet sauce of the rest of Japan; and Takayama ramen, thin curly noodles in a clear soy broth. A skewer of Hida beef costs about five to eight dollars.
- Sanmachi Suji · Beef sushi and sake tasting
- Miyagawa Morning Market · Pickles and dango
- Takayama Station · Ramen shops nearby
Museums in Takayama
Takayama is rich in museums of its merchants, carpenters and festivals.
- Takayama Jinya · The shogun’s office
- Festival Floats Hall · The floats
- Yoshijima House · Beams and light
Nature and day trips near Takayama
The Northern Alps rise to over three thousand metres east of the town, with hot springs at their feet.
- Shinhotaka Ropeway · Into the Alps
- Hirayu Onsen · Outdoor hot baths
- Shiroyama Park · Forest paths
Things to do in Takayama with kids
With children: carp in the canal, a double-decker cable car and thatched farmhouses to explore.
- Setogawa Canal · The carp
- Hida Folk Village · The farmhouses
- Shinhotaka Ropeway · The two-storey gondola
Holy places in Takayama
Shinto shrines that host the festivals, and Buddhist temples carried here from drowned valleys.
- Hida Kokubunji · The pagoda and ginkgo
- Shorenji · The moved temple
- Myozenji · The thatched temple
Nightlife in Takayama
Takayama sleeps early; evenings are sake, small izakaya and the hot springs of the mountains.
- Sanmachi Suji · Sake breweries
- Hirayu Onsen · A night in a ryokan
Frequently asked questions about Takayama
What is there to see in Takayama?
The top sights in Takayama are Hida Kokubunji, Takayama Jinya and Nakabashi Bridge. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Takayama?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Takayama without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Takayama?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Takayama, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The merchant town.
How do you get to Takayama and get around?
The main ways are Takayama Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Takayama, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Takayama that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Takayama for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.