Hida Folk Village

This article is based on a visit made on Friday, 18 May 2018.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I introduced the city of Takayama, which is where I went on the tenth full day of my vacation.  To get there from Toyama, I took the Wide View Hida express, which I have written about before in a Know Your Trains article, for a 90-minute ride south into the heart of Honshu.

As I described in the above article, the Wide View trains live up to their name not only with extra-large windows along the sides, but also with a wrap-around front window on the end car.  It is ordered at the front of the train when heading from Nagoya/to Toyama, and at the back in the other direction.  We got seats in that car both ways, and since it is designated as a Green Car, we had it almost all to ourselves.

The Wide View Hida is officially my favourite train journey ever, in terms of scenery.  Despite the cloudy weather, the hues of the brilliant green forests and clear blue streams shone through.  Some of the best scenery can be found in the section between Inotani and Hida-Furukawa, which the Hida covers in over half an hour without any stops.

Occasionally a cloud of mist would hover over the swiftly-flowing streams, which I also found pleasantly atmospheric.  Yet, all good things must come to an end, and we did have to leave the train eventually, but the best was yet to come.

From Takayama Station, we took a bus to Hida Folk Village (飛騨の里, Hida no Sato), an open-air museum which has collected and preserved houses from farming towns across the region.  As soon as you enter the park, you are greeted with a splendid viewpoint of some of those houses from across a lake.  Many come from Shirakawa-go, which has become popular in its own right after becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Indeed, I had also planned a day trip there, since there are also direct buses that go there from Toyama, where I was staying, but ultimately I decided that it would be more convenient just to get the same experience here.

There are a few free small activities put out around here for visitors to try out.  You can put on the coat, hat, and back-mounted basket of a farmer, or even try out an Edo-period water gun.  It's one of those straight rod-like things where you push a plunger in and it shoots the water by pressure alone.  It was surprisingly hard to hit the targets posted above the lake.

There are multiple styles of houses, all grouped under the term minka (民家, lit. "house of the people"), on display at Hida-no-Sato.  They date from the Edo or Meiji periods, and most of them are open for visitors to walk in.  As you explore the houses, you'll be taking your shoes on and off a lot, and there are quite a few staircases, both inside and out.  Visitors with mobility needs should be aware of that ahead of time.

Hida no Sato holds seasonal events throughout the year.  They celebrate festivals like Girls' Day (3 March) and Boys' Day (5 May), and also some agricultural activities.  In these fields, rice is planted in the late Spring, and harvested in the following Autumn.

There were so many houses present that I didn't manage to visit nearly all of them, but the ones I did each presented different aspects of life in old rural Japan.  Inside, you will find elements like irori (囲炉裏), which are sunken fire pits used for cooking, located in the middle of the main room.  Pots are hung above the fire pit by hooked steel rods called jizaikagi (自在鉤).

When you climb up to the top levels, you will get a better look at how these homes are constructed. They are typically made without using any nails; instead, wooden beams are lashed together with rope.  The roofs are thatched with straw; the thickness (up to a metre/3 feet) and the steeply-sloped shape (up to 60 degrees) of the roofs makes them strong enough to withstand the heavy snowfalls this region is infamous for, as well as slough off rain that would cause it to rot.

The families who used to own these homes were involved in various trades, and the methods of their labour are represented here.  Exhibits within the houses show how products like silk, paper, or tofu were made back in the day, and include artifacts involved in those processes.  You may also see volunteer artisans making these crafts first-hand.

While you're there, don't forget to check out the Hida-Takayama Crafts Experience Centre, just across the road from the main entrance.  They hold paid courses, with instructions available in English, for making things like sarubobo cloth dolls and senbei rice crackers.  These courses cost ¥600 to ¥1600, and you can get discount if you present a paid ticket for Hida no Sato itself.

We went for the senbei baking experience, not only because it was the cheapest and quickest, but because I had developed a serious taste for the things in trips before.  How it works is you hold the raw crackers by a pair of tongs and hold them in the kiln-like oven in front of you.  The goal is to rotate them at regular intervals so that, as they bake and expand, they grow as flat and evenly as possible.  You get to bake ten crackers in total, alternating between lighter ones flavoured with salt, and darker ones flavoured with soy sauce.  Although it took us some time to get the routine down pat, they all came out delicious!  So for my sign-off selfie, allow me to demonstrate the fruits of my labour.  No time to bask, though, since I still have much more to cover from Takayama, including the Yatai Kaikan festival museum, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Hours: Open from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM.  No regular closing days.  The Crafts Experience Centre is open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and is closed on Thursdays.

Cost: ¥700.

Address: 1-1-590 Kamioka Motomachi, Takayama-shi, Gifu-ken 〒506-0031

Access: From the Takayama Bus Centre, take the Sarubobo loop bus to Hida no Sato (9 minutes, ¥210).  The return trip takes about 15 minutes, but be aware that every third bus takes a detour out to the Festival Forest museum, adding 20 minutes onto the trip back to downtown Takayama.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Introduction to: Takayama

Edit 15 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Takayama (高山) is a city in the northern half of Gifu Prefecture (formerly Hida Province).  Despite, or rather because of, its isolated and mountain-logged location, the city thrived economically during the Edo period through the high reputation of its wooden crafts.  Today, Takayama is most famous for its festivals, which are held semi-annually April and October, and rank among the top three festivals in all of Japan.  Even outside of festival times, Takayama attracts visitors with its historic old town, and other attractions such as the Hida Folk Village open-air museum.  Takayama also makes an ideal base camp for excursions into more rural areas of the northern Chubu region, such as Shirakawa-go, Oku-Hida, and Kamikochi.

Main Attractions

1) Hachiman Shrine and Yatai Kaikan: A Shinto shrine and a neighbouring museum of festival floats.

By Bernard Gagnon [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

2) Kusakabe Heritage House: A former merchant's home preserved as a museum.

3) Showa-kan Museum: A museum of nostalgic goods and scenery from the postwar decades.

4) Old Town: A neighbourhood of museums, shops, cafes, and sake breweries, preserved from the Edo period.

User: Bgabel at wikivoyage shared [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

7) Takayama Jinya: An Edo-period government office preserved as a museum.

By Bernard Gagnon [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

6) Higashiyama Temple Town: A walking trail, lined by many Buddhist temples, leading to a former castle site atop a hill.

7) Hida Folk Village: An open-air museum of farmhouses transplanted from rural regions nearby.

Opqr [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

8) Festival Forest: An out-of-the-way, but excellent museum about the Takayama Festival.

Orientation and Transportation

Takayama is bisected by the Miyagawa river, with the old town and most other sights on its east side.  The Takayama train station and bus terminal are both to the west of the river.  To reach the bus terminal from the station, turn left out of the East Exit.

Takayama is a highly walkable town, with most sights within 15 minutes on foot from the station.  There are also a couple of loop buses, both of which start at the bus terminal.  The "Machinami" bus goes east into the old town, departs hourly in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions, and costs ¥100 per ride.  The "Sarubobo" bus goes west to Hida Folk Village and the Festival Forest, departs twice per hour in alternating routes (one heads straight back from Hida Folk Village), and costs ¥210 per ride.  A one-day pass for both buses costs ¥630, and also offers discounts at select attractions.  This ticket may be purchased from the bus terminal.  Information and schedule: (English)

Access

To get from Tokyo to Takayama, your options are:

• Take the Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo or Shinagawa to Nagoya (100-120 minutes, 2 Hikari/6 Nozomi per hour), and from there take the Wide View Hida limited express to Takayama (140 minutes, 1 per 1-2 hours).  The entire journey costs ¥14,980 for reserved tickets and, unless you take a Nozomi train to Nagoya, is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass.
• Take the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo or Ueno to Toyama (130-150 minutes, 1-3 per hour), and from there take the Wide View Hida to Takayama (90 minutes, 4 per day).  The entire journey costs ¥16,120 for reserved tickets, and is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass.  While this is potentially faster than going through Nagoya, there are fewer connections via Toyama.
• Take the Azusa or Super Azusa (160 minutes, 1-2 per hour, ¥6,620 reserved) limited express to Matsumoto, and from there take a highway bus to Takayama (145 minutes, 1 per 1-2 hours, ¥3,250 one-way/¥5,660 round-trip).  The train is covered by the Japan Rail Pass, but the bus is not.  More information: (English)
• However, if you have a JR East Nagano-Niigata Area Pass, not only is the train covered, but you can also buy a round-trip bus ticket between Matsumoto and Takayama for a discounted ¥4,500.
• Take a highway bus from Shinjuku Station's bus terminal (4½ hours, every 1-3 hours, ¥6,500 on weekdays / ¥7,000 on weekends and holidays).  More information: (English)

From western cities, your best bet is to go via Nagoya.  Take the Tokaido Shinkansen from Kyoto (35-50 minutes) or Shin-Osaka (50-65 minutes) to Nagoya, and the Hida express from there to Takayama.  The entire journey, for reserved tickets, costs ¥10,140 from Kyoto or ¥10,800 from Shin-Osaka.

Note: If you wish to visit Takayama during either the spring (14-15 April) or autumn (9-10 October) festivals, be aware that accommodation in the city is liable to be booked months in advance.  If needs be, you can try booking a room in another nearby city, like Furukawa or Gero Onsen (see below).  Any farther, and you risk not being able to make it back late at night.

Excursions

1) Shirakawa-go: A village famous for its thatched-roof farmhouses, where one can stay overnight.
Access: Bus from the Takayama Hida Bus Centre to Shirakawa-go (50 minutes, 1-2 per hour, ¥2,600 one-way / ¥4,600 round-trip).  More information: (English)

2) Furukawa: A small town with its own history of crafts and festivals.
Access: JR Takayama line from Takayama to Hida-Furukawa Station (15-20 minutes, 1 per hour, ¥240, JR Pass OK).

3) Hirayu Onsen: A hot-spring resort town at the foot of the Oku-Hida region.
Access: Bus from the Takayama Hida Bus Centre to Hirayu Onsen (60 minutes, 2 per hour, ¥1,600).  More information: (English)

4) Shin-Hotaka Ropeway: A double-decker cable car leading up to a mountain trailhead.
Access: Bus from the Takayama Hida Bus Centre to Shin-Hotaka Ropeway (90 minutes, 2 per hour, ¥2,200).  More information: (English)

5) Kamikochi: A national park in the northern Japan Alps.  Open only from April through November.
Access: Bus from the Takayama Hida Bus Centre to Hirayu Onsen (60 minutes, 2 per hour), followed by another bus to Kamikochi Bus Terminal (25 minutes, 2 per hour, total ¥2,780).  More information: (English)

6) Gero Onsen: An urban, but famous, hot-spring resort straddling the Hida river.
Access: JR Hida limited expess from Takayama to Gero Station (45 minutes, 1 per hour, ¥2,280 reserved, JR Pass OK).

Top Ten: Contemporary Art Museums

Edit 15 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Edit 25 June 2020: Replaced entry #3 and the Wildcard.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa.  Whilst I very much enjoyed my time there, Japan has so many more places to experience cutting-edge modern art.  These museums, ten of which I have selected and listed below, bring together the works of avant-garde artists from within and beyond Japan alike.

In the interest of fairness, and because I have not yet experienced many of these places in person, this list is ordered not by quality, but by geographic location, going from north/east to south/west.

1) Aomori Museum of Art

The entrance of the museum, designed by Jun Aoki.
yisris / Yuichi / CC BY-SA

Aomori, the city at the far-northern tip of Honshu, is the site of our first museum.  The Aomori Museum of Art stands across from the Sannai Maruyama Archaeological Site, a park of reconstructed Jomon-era (13000-300 BC) structures, and the museum reflects its neighbour in several distinct fashions.  For example, certain outdoor works are displayed in deep concrete trenches to evoke the excavation trenches dug in the Jomon site.  This museum's signature piece is "Aomori-ken" by Yoshitomo Nara (奈良 美智, b. 1959), a giant, stark-white statue of a stylised dog.

185 Chikano, Yasuta, Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken 〒038-0021.  Open from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, or from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM between June and September.  Closed on the 2nd and 4th Monday each month, and on 28-31 December.  Costs ¥510.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

Elsewhere in Aomori, I also recommend the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre.  Part of the Aomori Public College and surrounded by nature, this museum and workshop hosts different artists-in-residence every so often.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  Free to enter.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

2) Towada Art Centre, Aomori Prefecture

"Flower Horse" by Jung-hwa Choi.
Angaurits / CC0

Not that far from Aomori and the popular Lake Towada, the city of Towada host its own art museum.  The museum campus is a scattered collection of multiple white, cube-like buildings connected by glass-lined halls.  Many rooms incorporate giant windows that allow some works to be seen from outside.  Additional works, cleverly-designed benches called "Street Furniture", are placed at spots along the roads outside.  This museum's signature work is "Flower Horse", by Jeong-hwa Choi (b. 1961), a five-and-a-half metre (18 feet) tall horse statue covered in colourful floral shapes.

10-9 Nishi 2-ban-chō, Towada-shi Aomori-ken 〒034-0082.  Open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, closed Mondays.  Costs ¥520, or ¥1,200 for special exhibits.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

3) Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art - KINARE, Niigata Prefecture

The main building of the Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art.
Abasaa / Public domain

The Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, or "KINARE", is the unofficial headquarters of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, an art festival held across the area every three years.  The Echigo-Tsumari region, part of Niigata Prefecture, is surrounded by neatly-terraced rice fields, and is often besieged by heavy snowfalls in the winter.  This region is known for "satoyama", the concept of living in harmony with nature, a term which was borrowed for the name of the museum.  Even though the Triennale is held only every three years around August (next scheduled for 2021), many of its artworks have become permanent installations, both around the countryside and in this museum.

71-2 6-1 Hon-chō, Tōkamachi-shi, Niigata-ken, 〒948-0003.  Open from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, closed Wednesdays.  Costs ¥800.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

4) Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

The entrance to the Mori Art Museum, from within the Mori Tower building.
Wing1990hk / CC BY

The Mori Museum is located near the top of the iconic Mori Tower in Roppongi.  It holds no artworks on a permanent basis, but instead hosts multiple periodic exhibitions from Japanese and international artists alike.  For example, one of their current (June-October 2019) exhibitions, called "The Soul Trembles" by Chiharu Shiota (塩田千春, b. 1972), features works involving dense networks of red or black thread connecting chairs, boat frames, and other objects, nearly filling their entire rooms.  The Mori Museum's entry price is a little steep compared to the rest of this list, but also includes admission to the Tokyo City View, an observatory with open-air decks.

Roppongi Hills Mori Tower 53F, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo-to 〒106-6108.  Open from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM (Tuesdays to 5:00 PM).  Costs ¥1,800, including entry to Tokyo City View.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

Elsewhere in Tokyo, I also recommend:

• National Art Centre.  Part of the "Roppongi Art Triangle" which also includes the Mori Museum.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Fridays/Saturdays to 8:00 PM), closed Tuesdays.  Costs vary by exhibition, typically ¥1,000.  Website: (English) (Japanese)
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.  Located at Kiba Park in Tokyo's eastern wards.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, closed Mondays.  Costs ¥500, additional exhibition costs vary.  Website: (English)
• Yayoi Kusama Museum.  The first museum dedicated to the stylish works of this prolific Japanese artist.  Open from 11:00 AM to 5:30 PM; timed tickets required.  Costs ¥1,000.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

5) Hakone Open-Air Museum

"Spheric Theme" by Naum Gabo.
leon&mae / CC BY

Hakone has no shortage of art museums, some of which I visited the last time I was there, and perhaps the most striking is the Hakone Open-Air Museum.  Comprising much of the grounds is the Sculpture Garden, where many twisting, imaginative works are set amidst the rolling landscape. Some installations, such as "Woods of Net" and the towering "Symphonic Sculpture", also double as play-places for children.  Another highlight is the Picasso Pavilion, a separate building dedicated to sketches and paintings by the famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.

1121 Ninotaira, Hakone, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa-ken 〒250-0407.  Open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  Costs ¥1,600.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

6) Matsumoto City Art Museum

The main building of the museum, with flower sculptures by Yayoi Kusama to the left.
663highland / CC BY-SA

Note: The Matsumoto City Art Museum is set to close for renovations, starting in 2021 and lasting for about a year's time.

The Matsumoto City Art Museum pays a special focus to artists born in the city and surrounding prefecture.  Chief among them is Yayoi Kusama (草間彌生), born in Matsumoto in 1929 and still active into her 90s.  She is one of Japan's most prolific living artists (as of this post) due in large part to her distinctive style, commonly involving lots of bright colours and polka-dots.  This museum's other permanent exhibitions are more on the traditional side, including sculptures by Munehide Hosokawa (細川宗英, 1930-1994), calligraphy by Kamijo Shinzan (上條信山, 1907-1997), and landscape paintings by Kazuo Tamura (田村一男, 1904-1997).

4-2-20 Chuo, Matsumoto-shi, Nagano-ken 〒390-0811.  Open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  Closed Mondays and from 29 December to 2 January.  Costs ¥410.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

7) Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

The main building of the museum, with "Colour Activity House" by Olafur Eliasson in front.
Taken by the author on Thursday, 17 May 2018.

Kanazawa's 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art was established to collect and share "works produced since 1980 that propose new values", as per its mission statement.  Said works are shown  in rotating paid exhibitions, and as free permanent installations inside and outside the museum building.  Speaking of which, the circular-shaped building was designed with multiple entrances to encourage discovering its art from more than one angle, and also features a library and public spaces to integrate itself with the community.  Its most famous work is "The Swimming Pool" by Leandro Erlich, which does indeed look like a swimming pool from above, but...  Well, you should just see it for yourself.  Or read my report here.

1-2-1 Hirosaka, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken 〒920-8509.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, or to 8:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.  Costs ¥1,200.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

8) Inujima Seirensho Art Museum

The refinery ruins outside the Seirensho Art Museum.
KimonBerlin / CC BY-SA

Inujima (犬島, lit. "dog island") is a small island in the Seto Inland Sea, just off the coast of Honshu.  It used to be known for exporting granite during the feudal era, and copper during the early 20th century.  Unfortunately, within a mere decade of the copper refinery's establishment, the price of copper plummeted, and the refinery was no longer able to make a profit and had to shut down.  Its buildings were left standing, however, and in 2008 their ruins were incorporated into the Seirensho Art Museum (犬島精錬所美術館, lit. "Inujima Refinery Art Museum").  Also part of the island's art initiative is the Art House Project, a collection of five artistically-redesigned houses scatted about the main village.

327-5 Inujima, Higashi-ku, Okayama-ken 〒704-8153.  Open from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM.  Closed Tuesdays, or Tuesdays to Thursdays between December and February.  Costs ¥2,100, including entry to Inujima Art House Project and Inujima Life Garden.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

9) Benesse Art Site, Naoshima

The exterior of the Benesse House Museum.
663highland / CC BY-SA

Benesse is a Japan-based education company which funded the creation of art museums on Naoshima, another island in the Seto Inland Sea.  They are all characterised by their architecture, courtesy of Tadao Ando (安藤 忠雄, b. 1941).  The design of these museums are brutalist, employing large slabs of bare concrete in simple geometric shapes, but are harmoniously incorporated into the surrounding nature.  The grounds of the Benesse Museum include a public park, dotted with works like the aforementioned Yayoi Kusama's iconic "Yellow Pumpkin", and even a small hotel, whose guests have the privilege of visiting the museum after-hours.

Gotanchi, Naoshima, Kagawa-gun, Kagawa-ken 〒761-3110.  Open from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM.  Costs ¥1,050.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

Elsewhere on Naoshima, I recommend:

• Art House Project.  A collection of houses in the port town, re-purposed for art installations.  Open from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM; closed Mondays.  Costs ¥420 per site, or ¥1,050 for all six.  Website: (English) (Japanese)
• Lee Ufan Museum.  Zen-like works from the Korean-born artist, set among stark concrete surroundings.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (October-February to 5:00 PM); closed Mondays.  Costs ¥1,050.  Website: (English) (Japanese)
• Chichu Art Museum.  Monet paintings and full-room installations in naturally-lit settings.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (October-February to 5:00 PM); closed Mondays; reservations required.  Costs ¥2,100.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

10) Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art

The main building of the museum.
Taisyo at Japanese Wikipedia / CC BY

The Hiroshima MOCA was established in 1989, which makes it, depending on your definition, "the first public art museum in Japan devoted exclusively to contemporary art".  Its regular collection includes copies of Andy Warhol's (1928-1987) "Marilyn" screen-print, and Henry Moore's (1898-1986) "The Arch" and "Atom Piece" sculptures.  It is situated in the middle of Hijiyama Park, a hilltop park which also boasts additional outdoor sculptures, a manga library, and plenty of cherry blossoms for springtime.

1-1 Hijiyama-koen, Minami-ku, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima-ken 〒732-0815.  Open from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  Closed Mondays and from 27 December to 1 January.   Costs ¥300 for regular exhibitions, ¥1,030 for special exhibitions.  Website: (English) (Japanese)

Elsewhere in Hiroshima, I also recommend the Peace Memorial Park.  This area below the epicentre of the atomic bomb detonation was cleaned up afterwards and preserved as a public park.  It is decorated all over by sculptures designed to represent the emotions of its survivors.  You may read my report from the park here.

Wildcard) Setouchi Trienalle

"Yellow Pumpkin" by Yayoi Kusama, looking out in the direction of Takamatsu.
KimonBerlin / CC BY-SA

For my Wildcard slot, I once again present a recurring event in lieu of another museum.  The Setouchi Triennale is a festival, held every three years, intended to draw artists and tourists alike to one of Japan's poorer dwindling-population regions, much in the vein of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale mentioned above.  Even though the Setouchi Trienalle occurs only every so often, most of the installations presented each year are left standing afterwards, and can be visited year-round.  This festival is held across numerous islands in the Seto Inland Sea, accessible by ferries from Takamatsu (on Shikoku) or Uno (on Honshu), and is held every three years in three sessions during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn.  The main sites such as Naoshima, Inujima (both listed above), Teshima, and Shodoshima participate in all three sessions.  Additional sites, mainly west of the Seto Ohashi bridge, are active only during the Spring or Autumn sessions.  As of this post, the Setouchi Trienalle was last held in 2019, with the next occurence taking place in 2022.  More information: (English) (Japanese)