Takayama's Higashiyama Walking Course takes one to temples and shrines galore! (Photo-essay)

Before I visited the mountain town of Hida-Takayama (or just plain Takayama), I had heard that it was known as the Little Kyoto of the Mountains/the Japanese Alps/Hida/Gifu.  To be honest though, I think that Kamakura deserves the "Little Kyoto" label more and, if anything, Takayama -- with its traditional wooden houses in the old part of town, some of them still private residences while others housed interesting shops and eateries -- reminded me more of Naramachi. 

But if there were a section of Takayama which would call to mind Kyoto, it'd be the temple- and shrine-filled town outskirts which I passed through while going along Takayama's 5.5 kilometer Higashiyama Walking Course.  Takayama's Higashiyama is far less full of tourists -- or any other folks, for that matter -- than Kyoto's Higashiyama (for the record, Higashiyama means  "Eastern Hill(s)/Mountain(s)" in Japanese).  So while its buildings are less physically impressive, the area's quiet feel more than compensates in terms of making it an attractive space to spend time exploring... :)

Tree trunk, bell and bell tower in a corner of

the Shorenji temple grounds

 

Superstitious folks thinking of going along Takayama's Higashiyama

Walking Course should be aware that it takes people right through,

not just along, a couple of temple graveyards! 

 

Puppet Ponyo posing near the Bentendo of Dairyuji 

that's Takayama's closest equivalent to  

Kyoto's Kinkakuji's Golden Pavilion! ;b

 

The kind of temple that would have charged for admission into its grounds 

if it were situated in Kyoto or Kamakura but didn't in Takayama

 

Peek into the main halls of the temples and you'll get

rewarded with beautiful visuals like this :b

 

If I didn't know better, I'd easily imagine that this image 

had been taken in Kyoto (or Kamakura)! :)

 

Daioji's two-storey, 18th century Sanmon Gate was the 

most impressive structure of its kind that I saw in Takayama

 

 Looking downhill towards the town center from 

just within the grounds of Higashiyama Shinmeijinja