Day 6 – Part 2 - Traveling to Takayama and Wanosato

As we were leaving Kagaonsen, we felt a little sad as we did not have enough time to visit Shirakawa-go.  This village is a popular destination and is best known for its historic representation of a simple Japanese village with a style of house with slanted roofs to protect them for the weight of the large annual snow falls as this is one of the snowiest regions of Japan with a yearly snowfall amount of 1,055 cm.  It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Thunderbird Train

We took the Thunderbird train from Kagaonsen to Toyama where we had a brief wait for the train we would be taking to Takayama.  While in the station I explored some of the shops and found a German bakery where we purchased some pastries for the trip.  The high quality of food that is available everywhere in Japan, even a train station in Toyama, never ceases to amaze me.

 

We boarded the Wide View Hida train for the 1.5 hour journey to Takayama.  It is called “Wide View” for the simple fact that the windows on the train are very large and give you amazing panoramic views as you travel through this wonderful section of Japan.  We were lucky enough to be seated on the left hand side of the train which meant that we were given glorious views of the mountains, rivers and a very large gorge.  As we travelled along, the scenery outside of our window quickly changed into a winter wonderland. 

Although we were not really travelling any further north than Kaga, we were leaving the coastal area of the Sea of Japan and moving farther inland. The amount of snow piled outside grew with each passing minute.

We arrived in Takayama and were immediately met by our driver from Wanosato, the Ryokan that we would be visiting for the night.  The driver kindly took our bags and loaded them into the van.  He then offered us a warm wash cloth to refresh ourselves from the train ride.  Takayama is in the mountainous region of Hida in Japan.  As we drove through Takayama, I could tell that there was a section of the city that had been preserved to the cultural and historic past of Japan.  I learned later that this referred to as “old town”.  We made our way through Takayama and entered a more rural section where Wanosato was located.

 

 

 

Wanosato is a wonderfully rustic Ryokan that is situated on a large 49,500 square meter area of land nestled right next to a beautifully forested area with a creek running along its side.  Wanosato is made up of 4 individual villas with an additional 4 rooms in the main building, resulting in the fact that there are a limited number of guests that can be there at any given time, thus ensuring a quiet relaxing time no matter when you are there. This Ryokan is about 20 minutes from Takayama and therefore offers you a real quiet escape where you can truly get away from it all.  To emphasize this for you, there is absolutely no internet service here and, although that can be shocking in this day and age, I quickly realized that no having the opportunity to check my emails at all for the first time in years was actually a huge relief.

 

The main building is a 160 year old “minka” (house of the people) with the traditional slanted roof.  As I entered this main building I was immediately taken away by the large open-fire pit in the middle of the building.  The roaring fire was amazing and my wife and I placed ourselves on the cushioned mats that surrounded the perimeter of the fire pit.  There did not appear to be any other source of heat in the building, keeping to the traditional spirit of the “minka”. 

 

We were offered hot tea and a treat by the staff and were quickly greeted by the “Okami” (Landlady of the Ryokan”).  She was an absolutely friendly and outgoing woman who I quickly realized would do anything to help us enjoy our stay.  She does not speak any English, but made me feel quite welcomed and I immediately took a liking to her. As we had arrived early in the afternoon, she discussed with my wife a few options for us on how to spend the afternoon.  Being their only guests this day meant that their van and driver were at our disposal.  The decision was made that we would be taken back into Takayama to do some sightseeing and shopping.

Before leaving, we left the main building to go to our private villa.  This villa was amazing and very large.  It was made up of 3 separate rooms.  The first one that you enter is the main room in which a large pillar made from a lacquered tree trunk, immediately draws your attention.  The room was equipped with a TV (the only really modern amenity other than the washroom in the entire Ryokan).  From the main room there is access to a large balcony that overlooks a forested area with a small creek running right past the villa. 

 

 There was also a large water wheel slowly turning that greatly added to the rustic charm of Wanosato. 

 

The second living room in the villa provided a “Kotatsu”, which is a low table with blankets attached to the table top that cover the entire circumference of the table.  Underneath the table is a heater that, coupled with the blanket, creates a warm cocoon for you to enjoy as you sit covered by the blankets.   

 

Off of this room was the access to the washroom area that consisted of the separate room with the toilet with the modern Japanese features, a large vanity area with a gorgeous lacquered counter, and finally the washing area with a large wooden bath tub.  Being winter, and the fact that there is no central heating (or air conditioning in the summer) we were provided to large heaters that sat in the two main rooms and provided enough heat for the villa.

We left Wanosato to travel in their van with our personal driver, to Takayama.  Our first stop was a pavilion located at the “Art & Festa Forest” where the Takayama Matsuti (Festival) Museum is located.  Takayama has two major festivals every year, the Takayama Spring Festival and Takayama Autumn Festival to celebrate the changing of the seasons.  These are regarded as the most beautiful in Japan, and people come from all over the country to participate.  During these festivals, large floats are carried through Takayama to celebrate the season.

There are specific floats for both the spring and autumn festivals.  The museum houses the immense and intricate floats for people to view during the year.  They are just stunning and remarkable in their detail, but the most wondrous aspect are the puppets on the floats that come to life with the aid of master puppeteers that manipulate the network of strings from within the floats themselves and perform for the visitors of the museum.  This museum also holds many other interesting items on display.  Most notably, it houses the worlds’ largest drum. 

From here we travelled to what is referred to as Takayama Old Town.  This area has been brilliantly preserved to provide visitors with an authentic cultural experience of the architecture and streets of this region during the Edo period (1600-1868).  We wondered though the streets amazed at the details of the wood work on the buildings, and stopped periodically into the many stores that line the street. 
 

 

Many of the shops sell wooden products that are hand crafted in the traditions that go back centuries in this part of Japan.  The items on display encompass almost anything you can imagine from small figurines, house/kitchenware, to large pieces of furniture.  This area also has an abundance of Sake Breweries which produce some of the finest sake in Japan and, much to my delight, offer free tasting samples.  Some of these breweries have been in operation for centuries. 

 

We really enjoyed the leisurely stroll down these streets, and as dusk settled and the store s began to close, we returned to Wanosato and made preparations for our Kaiseki dinner.

Dinner was served in the main building on the second floor.  Having no central heating, and the only main source of heat in the building, that I saw, being the fire pit in the lobby meant that the dining room we were in was quite cool.  However, Wanosato is prepared for this and at the table were numerous blankets to help keep us warm.  As soon as the food began to arrive, all thought of the cold were replaced by the delight I took it each course.  Our server was an extremely polite, friendly and warm Japanese girl who spoke a little English and was able to describe each course to me.  I really appreciated he efforts, and later learned that she was teaching herself English at home when she was not working.  We enjoyed 10 separate courses.  The unique feature of this meal, was that we were provided a sherbet sorbet in the middle of the meal to cleanse our pallets.  The highlight of the meal for me was the Hida beef course.  Hida beef is quite famous around the world for its tenderness and the fact that it literally melts in your mouth.  We cooked the beef at our table with a small hot grill.  The cooking of the beef took only a few minute (ideally you want to cook it only for two minutes on each side).  It was amazing.  After our dinner the Okami arrived to serve us very high quality sake that was so smooth it could really become dangerous in its ease to drink.

We made our way down to the main lobby to sit around the fire and talk with the staff.  The Okami continued to serve us sake, but this time she provided it to us from bamboo shoots that had been filled with sake and them placed in the fire pit to warm it up.  This warm sake really hit the spot and was much appreciated as we made the quick walk through the snow back to our villa.

 

While we were enjoying our dinner, other staff members had entered our room to refill our heaters with oil to ensure they would last through the night, and they had moved the Kotatsu in the second room to the side and laid out our futons on the floor.  These futons proved to be quite warm and with the heaters and the warm sake inside of us, sleep came quite easily.

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