This article is based on a visit made on Friday, 18 May 2018.
Previously on Sekai Ichi, I embarked on a day-trip to Takayama, starting with the Hida Folk Village just outside of town. Now, the city of Takayama is especially famous for its festivals, held twice-yearly: the
Sannō Matsuri (山王祭り) in spring (14-15 April), and the
Hachiman Matsuri (八幡祭り) in autumn (9-10 October). From what I have gathered, it is supposed to be a stunning experience, especially in the presence of the massive shrine-floats, or
yatai (屋台), that are carried about the old town. But, as you can tell from the dateline at the top of this article, I obviously missed out on either of the festivals. Fortunately, there are places where one can witness glimpses of the festival experience year-round, and one such place is the Takayama Festival Hall (高山祭屋台会館,
Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan), where some of the actual
yatai used in the processions are stored when not in use.
This museum is located in the grounds of Sakurayama Hachiman-gu (櫻山八幡宮), the Shinto shrine which serves as the base of the autumn festival. The spring festival is based at Hie Shrine in the south side of town. The bus from Takayama Station drops you off near this wooden
torii gate. It's one of the larger
toriis I've yet seen in person, and it would have to be in order for the festival floats to fit underneath (which I'm not sure if they do).
For a shrine in a city of this size, Sakurayama Hachiman-gu has a nice bit of woods surrounding it to the back. I think the unpainted wooden tones of its main hall fit in nicely.
As a Hachiman shrine, also related to
the one in Kamakura, it is dedicated to the Shinto war god of the same name. Hachiman is the second-most prevalent deity out of all the Shinto shrines in Japan, second only to Inari-Okami (as in Kyoto's
Fushimi Inari Shrine) [1]. As such, the bronze horse statue near the entrance does fit the theme of cavalry soldiers or archers.
Paying your way into the museum, you will enter a giant hall, and follow the path around the windowed-off centre of the room where the floats are parked. The floats on display in this museum are the same ones that are used in the festivals every year. The selection is rotated three times a year, in March, July, and November; the rest are privately stored elsewhere around the city. When it's time for them to be moved out, one of the room's walls has a massive sliding door big enough to move the floats out through.
The shorter golden float shown above is the
mikoshi (神輿), which temporarily houses the patron deity of the shrine. In essence, a
mikoshi is a portable shrine. The one here weighs in at a massive 2 and a half tons (2,267 kg), and takes 80 people to move it!
The other
yatai are much taller than the
mikoshi -- the "Jinma-tai" (神馬台), shown above, is the tallest at 8 metres (26 feet and 3 inches) -- but come equipped with wheels and require fewer people to pull them about, about 20 to 30. A hidden fifth wheel is used to turn the
yatai in place.
Another testament to the intricate adornments of these
yatai are the moving puppets that occupy the upper tiers. For example, on the "Hotei-tai" (布袋台), a larger figure stands out and waves, while a smaller figure swings itself across the bars hanging out to the side, one at a time, before ending up on the bigger guy's shoulder! The whole thing is operated by eight puppeteers, and even if I can't say whether or not they were working the thing in person while the float was at rest in the museum, it was impressive to watch!
Another fun thing to watch would be the video that plays on loop in a back room. It shows footage and explanations about both festivals, with Japanese narration and English subtitles. Visitors may check it out on their way up and around the museum, culminating with close-ups with a few more artifacts from the festivals such as
yatai wheels or
happi coats (shown), before reaching the exit.
Also located in the shrine complex, and included with admission to the Yatai-kan, is the Nikko-kan (桜山日光館,
Sakurayama Nikkō-kan). This large hall contains scale models of Tosho-gu Shrine (東照宮,
Tōshō-gū). The real Tosho-gu is located in Nikko, all the way back in the Kanto region.
Tosho-gu (the real one, that is) serves as the mausoleum of
Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康, 1543-1616), a successful warlord who kicked off the Tokugawa Shogunate, the shogun dynasty which effectively ruled Japan from Edo (modern-day Tokyo), for over 250 years. In respect to his grand status, his initially-simple mausoleum was expanded upon by his grandson,
Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光, 1604-1651). Pictured above is the
Yomei-mon (陽明門), the giant gate which stands in front of the shrine's main hall.
To end this article, let's appreciate the detail of the miniature Tosho-gu with a close-up shot. The full-sized counterpart is no less ornate. After all, it is the origin of the famous
"three wise monkeys" woodcarving. I hope to see it myself in person some day, along with the rest of Nikko. But for now, I have another one of Japan's must-see places to cross off my bucket list. Next time on Sekai Ichi, I shall venture into Takayama's old town!
Hours: Open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM; closes at 4:30 PM from December through February. No regular closing days.
Cost: ¥900; includes entry to both the Yatai Kaikan and Nikko-kan.
Address: 178 Sakura-machi, Takayama-shi, Gifu-ken 〒506-0858
Access: From the Takayama Bus Centre, take the Machinami loop bus to Sakurayama Hachiman-gu (¥100). The Counterclockwise route takes 12 minutes to get to this stop, while the Clockwise route takes 17 minutes.
Website:
(English) (Japanese)
[1] Motegi, Sadazumi. "Shamei Bunpu (Shrine Names and Distributions)" (in Japanese). Encyclopedia of Shinto. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/detail.do?class_name=col_eos&data_id=22988
