Adventure 14: Takayama

1/2/09-1/4/09This past winter break, I took a trip to Takayama: a town in the Japanese Alps, rife with well preserved history. I went with a friend and we stayed in a hotel for two nights.

We set off on a Friday morning with a five-hour bus ride, passing through mountain lakes and alongside a wide green river. Near Takayama, we took a break at a rest stop deep in snow. The vast whiteness and snow smell brought fond memories of youth. Soon we drove deeper into the mountains and progressively deeper in snow and arrived at Takayama.

We got off the bus in a cloudy flurry, walked around town and made it back to the room an hour before sunset. There we made preparations for Shabbat, lit the candles and made Kiddush over some wine and challah from Rabbi Binyomin.

Shabbat morning we made a large Kiddush meal and set off for a day hike around town. Snow was packed on the ground, trees and buildings and the sky was cloudy. We went through a set of well-preserved old street homes. Their small stature and slick geometric architecture made me feel as if I was in a fairy tale of ancient Japan. Then we climbed a hill, saw a good view of the town and swerved through its thin streets for a long time. Eventually, we found a highland park with castle ruins. The trail up was lonesome and iches deep in snow. As we reached the white and eerily silent ruin grounds, it began to flurry. We stayed sometime in silence in the wondrous winter scene and then returned to the room for Havdallah.

The next day we awoke to fair skies, receding snow and clear views of the surrounding mountains. First we headed to a morning market of trinket booths and food stands. A popular new year’s treat named mitarashi dango (rice boiled and pounded into 3-6 marble-sized balls, coated with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and spicy peppers, stacked on a chopstick, and then cooked over an open stove) was widely sold and eaten.

After, we headed to Hida no Taka, a village of preserved straw-roofed farm houses and then took a bus to a rotenburo, or outdoor hot spring, amidst cold air and mountain views.

After we took a set of trains and returned home, refreshed.