Designed Journeys
The Hida
Field Notes
Hi·da
/ˈhiː.dɑ/ · 飛騨
n. proper
The historical mountain province at the heart of the Japan Alps, of which the town of Takayama — long known as Hida Takayama — is the cultural capital.
Food · Cultural A day and a half
Education in flavor;
from fermentation to umami
A slow immersion in the food culture of the Japan Alps — beginning at a centuries-old sake brewery, ending at your own machiya dinner table.
Day One
Arrival in Takayama and a private sake cellar tour, followed by an evening at the onsen.
Day Two
A Breakfast Discovery, a morning with master miso and shoyu makers, and a hands-on dinner at a machiya.
Craft · Cultural A day and a half
Meeting Hida's craftsmen,
among its woods
An immersion in the woodworking tradition that shaped this town — and a second day spent walking through it, seeing what was always there.
Day One
The architecture of old Takayama, two artist studios (one traditional, one contemporary), the Hida Takumi museum, hands-on time with timber and tools, and a visit to a working sawmill.
Day Two
A guided walk through Takayama with a craftsman's eye — the joinery, the timber, the centuries hiding in plain sight.
Nature · Spirit Two days
Spirits in water / forest / sake
Eighty percent of Hida is mountain, and in the older Japanese way of seeing, every one of them is alive. Two days walking among those mountains — and tasting the sake said to carry their spirit.
Day One
A hike to Shijuhattaki, the Forty-Eight Falls, where Hida's nature worship is still practiced.
Day Two
A sugidama-making session with a forestry family, followed by a private tasting at the brewery beside their land.
