JAPAN GUIDE: Takayama and Gero Onsen (by Patty Lo)

Takayama in the northern part of Gifu Prefecture is a castle town at the foot of Takayama Castle built in the 16th century. It is a town of old wooden houses which draws thousands of vistiors very year and is called Little Kyoto. Its temples, shrines, festivals, rivers and bridges are reminiscent of Kyoto on a smaller scale. Takayama-matsuri is believed to have begun in the 16th or 17th century and is one of the three largest festivals in Japan. At the festival, intricate floats roam around the city utilizing the essence of Hida's traditional techniques (and a lot of people power). Takayama-matsuri is held in spring and autumn every year. In the spring the central shrine is Hie-jinja Shrine, and in autumn, the central shrine is Sakura-yama Hachiman-gu Shrine.

Gero Onsen is located in the middle-eastern part of Gifu Prefecture, on the border with Nagano Prefecture has been known as a spa since the 10th century. It is also known as one of the three best hot springs in Japan along with Kusatsu Onsen and Arima Onsen, and is renowned for it's healing powers of rheumatic ailments.

Early this year, my friends and I planned a trip to Gero Onsen and Takayama for our winter break. It took us months to finalize our plan - how many days should the trip be, where to go for sightseeing, which and what kind of hotel to stay at, what we should eat, and of course how much are we willing to spend. Anyway, we eventually made up our mind to settle on a two-day-one-night trip, from Okazaki to Gero Onsen for the first day, then from Gero Onsen to Takayama the next morning; heading back to Okazaki in the evening.

After going through every travel guidebook and searching online, I found a webpage that contains all the onsen hotels you can find in Gifu Prefecture. Moreover, they happened to have a winter campaign (one-night stay plus two meals cost us about 7500 yen per person). That settled our accommodation. Next was how to get there. During the winter we were able to use Seishun 18 Kippu, a type of ticket that you get to ride on any local trains that run on JR lines for 2300 yen per day and 11500 yen for five days. So transport was fairly cheap.

The day of the trip, we left Okazaki station at around 8 in the morning and thus started our trip which took about 4 to 5 hours to get to Gero Onsen with numerous changes of train. As we got closer and closer to Gifu Prefecture and our destination Gero Onsen, the snow got thicker which made all four of us extremely excited because most of us came from places without snow. Once we got off the train, just like many Asian or typical Japanese tourists do, we took pictures. After pictures were taken and empty stomachs were fed, we browsed souvenir stores before the hotel's van came to pick us up at the station. After we checked in and rested a bit, we hit the all-you-can-eat dinner. That was part of our plan too, to stay at a hotel that offers all-you-can-eat meals. Since we stayed at the original hotel (older but cheaper than the new one), we had to commute to the hotel annex for dinner and next day's breakfast. When we reached to the annex, some of the hotel guests had already refreshed themselves in the onsen, as we saw a lot of people walking around wearing 'yukata'. During winter, it's the best time to try all kinds of seafood, mainly crab. Thus, a friend of ours went and got herself a whole plate of crab legs, which we had to help her to finish.

After we got back to our hotel and digested our feast, we finally moved on to the main purpose of the trip - onsen. We changed into our yukata and headed towards the hotel's indoor onsen. As soon as we did the washing and got into the onsen, all of us were able to relax and it released the tiredness from riding the train. We stayed for 20 minutes staying then headed to the famous 'Sagi No Ashiyu'(heron's foot bath), which is just a 2-minute walk from our hotel. Even though it was so cold outside (maybe minus 5 or 6 Celsius), the 'ashiyu' kept us warm. On returning to our room and watching some 'terebi dorama' we decided try the rotenburo (outdoor onsen) because we figured there wouldn't be anyone out there and it would be less crowded. There was even a wooden sauna bath next to rotenburo, so basically the entire night we just kept trying the indoor onsen, rotenburo, and sauna bath before we finally ended our first day of the trip.

The next day we woke up early so we could try the onsen at the annex and had our breakfast over there too. The indoor onsen and rotenburo felt about the same; only the facilities and the view were different. We had our big breakfast, all-you-can-eat again and on checking out from our hotel, we got a discount admission pass and a free ride from the hotel to the Gero Onsen Gasshou Mura (Rafted Houses Village). We walked around the picture postcard village filled with houses with rafted roofs all covered in pure white snow. We went into one of the houses and looked at how people lived in a rafted roof house in the old days. Since it was so cold outside, we went into one of the teashops, ordered something to keep us warm, and chatted with some local ojisan. After Gasshou Mura, we headed to our next destination, Takayama.

From Takayama station, we walked about 5 minutes and visited the oldest temple in Takayama, Hida Kokubunji Temple. It was originally built in 746 by Emperor Shomu as one of several provincial temples dedicated to the peace of the nation but the original temple was burnt down. The oldest surviving building, the wooden Main Hall, dates from the 16th century. The three-storied pagoda was constructed in 1821 and standing by it is a gingko tree said to be 1,200 years old. Among the temple's treasures are a precious sword said to have belonged to the Heike family and Heian-period wooden status of Yakushi Nyorai and Kannon. After visiting the temple, we went to the Sanno-machi Shuji. This is actually the center of the old town of Takayama and is still a living part of the city, despite its old buildings and quaint atmosphere. The three main streets of Sanno-machi Shuji (Ichino-machi, Nino-machi and San-machi) are narrow, and lined with stores selling traditional wares, craftsmen's workshops, inns and breweries (indicated by a ball made of cedar leaves hanging outside). Restaurants also serve local delicacies such as soba noodles, and a number of small museums, where the buildings are every bit as interesting as the items on display. Some storehouses keep the tall festival floats that are brought out at Takayama's famous Spring and Autumn festivals.

On our way back to the station, we passed by the Takayama City Memorial Hall which was used as the local municipal office from 1985 to 1910. The hall is located in the old district of town, which is designated as a Traditional Buildings Preservation Area. The building is made of Japanese cypress, and is one of the masterpieces of Hida's artisans. Finally, before we left Takayama for good, we had a wine stewed Hida beef dinner, bought some omiyage (souvenir) for friends, and headed back to our ordinary life in Okazaki.

How to get there:

1. It takes about 1 hour 37 minutes from Nagoya Station to Gero Station by JR Takayama Honsen Limited Express. Likewise, it takes about 2 hour 10 minutes from Nagoya Station to Takayama Station by JR Takayama Honsen Limited Express.

2. Cheaper way to get there but takes more time is by taking local trains using Seishun 18 Kippu: 11500 yen for 5 days (2300 yen per day); offers 3 times a year: Spring sale 2/20-3/31, valid 3/1-4/10; Summer sale 7/1-8/31, valid 7/20-9/10; Winter sale 12/1-1/10, valid 12/10-1/20.

General Information:

1. Gero Onsen Gasshou Mura: Open 8:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on specified days, third Wednesday and Thursday of February. Admission: 800 Yen.
2. Hida Kokubunji Temple: Open 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily, except Jan. 1st. Admission: 300 Yen.
3. Takayama City Memorial Hall: Open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on Mondays, from Dec. 29th to Jan. 3rd. Contact: 0577-32-0406.

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