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If you have more than one day in Takayama, why not spend a couple of hours of it investigating the Higashiyama Walking Course? This walk is located close to the old town and takes in 12 temples and shrines with some interesting features. If you don’t have time to do the whole thing, you can easily see 10 of the buildings in about an hour.
When you see maps of the Higashiyama Walking Course, it looks really long. In reality, most of the temples are practically next door to each other. So, why would you put 12 temples so close to each other?
The area of this Higashiyama walk was established in the 16th century by Lord Nagachika Kanamori. The Kanamori family built Takayama Castle and sculpted much of the old townscape you see today. They ruled the area for over 100 years.
Kanamori greatly admired Kyoto and wanted to create Takayama in its image. He, therefore moved a large number of temples/shrines from their original locations around the city to the east side of Takayama Castle to create a protective spiritual barrier to the castle, but also to mirror the Higashiyama area of Kyoto, which is also has rows of small shrines in close proximity to each other (see this walk that takes in some of those).
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If you take this walk expecting grand temples that will light up your Instagram, you’ll be disappointed. The joy of this walk comes not because the temples/shrines are large and impressive but because many have small unique touches, and finding these is what makes the walk special. If you’re unaware of what to look for, you could get templed out quickly, as there are a lot of big wooden gates and simple buildings like the one above.
However, this is a great place to escape if the crowds in Old Town are large, as very few people come here. In fact, in our two-day Takayama itinerary, we suggest you do this in the afternoon after seeing the Showa Kan Museum and before heading to the Old Town once the crowds have gone.
If you’ve read that itinerary, you’ll know that I have to confess to not having visited every shrine on this walk due to a pain problem I was experiencing when I visited Takayama. It’s funny looking back now as I can also tell how much pain I was in when I was doing something on this trip by the number of pictures I took when I was there – and there are quite a few missing here, and for that, I apologise!
But pretty pics aside, the guide is still helpful and it’s the type of guide I wished I’d had before I took the walk. So, here goes…
1. Kyushoji Temple
If you think you’ll start the walk with a bang, think again – the Kyushoji Temple is the very definition of understated, although you will walk through a pretty wooden gate to get to it. Tick it off as your starting place, then move on.
2. Unryuji Temple
Unryuji Temple was the family temple of Nagachika Kanamori’s son, Chujiro. The main highlight is the two-storey belfry gate, relocated from Takayama Castle in 1590. The best view of this is from the steps leading up to it, but you’ll also get a great view over Takayama through it.
The temple is also known for its garden, which features azaleas in spring, wildflowers in summer, and bright red leaves in autumn. In winter, Takayama is often blanketed with snow.
One fun thing about this temple is the website dedicated to it. There’s a sporadic diary section that explains daily life around the temple. It covers subjects like how they protect the temple against the increasingly heavy snowfalls Takayama is experiencing (apparently, if they notice lots of stink bugs around, it’s going to be a bad year for snow) to the birds that have started nesting in the temple eves.
It gives a lovely insight into the temple’s workings, and the pride they feel about it comes across in every word. Take a look at it before you visit.
3. Eikyoin Temple
The interesting thing about this temple is tucked inside the Mido Hall, a small shed-like building on the left of the main hall of the property.
If you peer through the slatted windows, you’ll find 1,000 small statues of Kobi Dashi, one of the great Buddhist teachers, hidden under a bright-coloured lantern.
4. Higashiyama Hakusan Shrine
This is one of the shrines that will take you off the easy path of this walk and extend its length. If you are tight on time or, like me, are suffering from aches and pains, you might want to skip this.
If you’re fit and healthy, though, you’ll be rewarded with a tranquil uphill walk through giant cedar trees and ancient graveyards, bringing you to one of Takayama’s oldest shrines and a view over Takayama.
One thing to watch out for up here is wild boars. The locals walking the route often carry bells so wildlife can hear them coming. If you see an animal, do not approach it.
5. Daioji Temple
The main draw for most people at Daioji Temple is the chance to learn some Japanese calligraphy. The temple doesn’t have regular hours; follow the signs saying Shakyo and see if they are open. It only costs 1000 yen per person to take part and reviews say it’s the highlight of many people’s Takayama trip.
I was there fairly late in the day, and the door was closed, so I missed out, but they do have an email address if you want to contact them in advance to see if you can get further details as to when they might be open.
I wasn’t disappointed, though, as there were a lot of other things to see at Daioji—I think it was my favourite stop on the walk.
One highlight was this shrine to the Ten Gods of Hell and the painting of Buddhist hell behind them. Alongside is a sign explaining that if you’ve been experiencing bad luck lately, this might be a good place to work on it in an attempt to redeem yourself in the afterlife.
Next to this is a little stone garden full of statues of cute stone couples. I couldn’t find an explanation for these, but my guess is that the coins offered are from people praying for happy relationships.
If you’re collecting goshuin, the ones here are also pretty unique.
6. Tounin Temple
Tounin/Dounin Temple is another small temple. One thing to watch out for here is the jizo statues, which are here to remember the children who died from disease or famine after the eruption of the Asamayama volcano in 1783.
7. Sogenji Temple
Snap a quick picture of Matsura-Kannon (pictured below), which for some reason isn’t officially on the walk, and climb up the stairs, and you’ll come to your next stop – Sogenji.
The description of this temple brings up an interesting vision in my head. According to the sign inside, ‘it was an old conference building on the outermost region of Takayama Castle,’ which brings to mind samurai all standing around a long table with cups of coffee waiting to hear the finer points of some new photocopier or another.
I’m pretty sure that’s not what it means, though.
In reality, you’ll find a fairly simple shrine with an impressive bell and gate overlooking the city. It seems a bit understated for a building that the sign tells you was ‘built to mourn Nagachika Kanamori’s soul.’
8. Higashiyama Shinmei Shrine
Located uphill, off the main route dotted, the Higashiyama Shinmei Shrine is another very simple shrine.
The interesting element here is not the rather nondescript main hall but a building called the emaden.
Not only are the eves of this lined with horse paintings, but this open-air structure was originally a moon viewing platform located at Takayama Castle.
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9. Tenshoji Temple
Built in 1182, this temple isn’t much to look at, but it has an interesting history. In the 1630s, a relative of the shogun and a local governor were banished to live here as prisoners.
Should you wish to follow in their footsteps – but with more freedom of movement, there has been a Youth Hotel on the grounds in the past, although at the time of writing, it’s closed to guests.
This is very pretty in autumn when the trees are bright red, but it won’t take you that long to visit at other times of the year.
10. Hokkeji Temple
Okay, back to something more photogenic.
Hokkeji Temple is home to a Buddha statue believed to possess healing powers. To gain relief, you’re supposed to wash the statue’s body part corresponding to your ailment. Considering my level of pain at this point, I was ready to meet this guy, but I could not see it!
I saw one statue, but I wasn’t sure if this was the right one, and I couldn’t see any washing accoutrements nearby. After a bit more walking around, I gave up.
There’s also a pretty stone bridge and pond in the gardens. Make sure you look underneath the main gate, as there’s a beautiful peacock painting.
In my post-Buddha-locating disappointment, I did something rather silly. As I said, one of the few things that I had read about this walk was that it was 3.5km long. At this point, I got it into my head therefore that the next temples were miles away, and being in quite a bit of pain by this point, with no Buddha encounter to help, I turned around.
Well, that was stupid, as the last two stops on the walk were literally 150 metres metres around the corner!
Now I realise that 10 out of the 12 temples are beside each other within a 600m stretch. The 3.5km walk involves walking through all of the temples and an extra loop around the castle at the end. But hindsight, as they say, is a wonderful thing.
I am ready for next time, though, and have briefly researched the last couple of stops.
Visiting in person might throw up some extra hidden gems, though.
While many of the signs explaining the shrine histories include an English section, my top tip when you’re doing a walk like this is to translate every sign using the Google Translate camera. You’ll find all sorts of interesting things when you do this, like different ways to make offerings and important bits of history that the English signs leave out. Or, for a deep dive into the shrines, you can book a local walking tour that takes in five of them.
11. Zennoji Temple
This is another simple temple on the route. Try as I might, I can’t find anything that interesting about it, possibly because it was rebuilt in 1925 and is, therefore, the most modern temple on the route.
12. Soyuji Temple
The temple segment of the course concludes with Soyuji Temple. It’s probably the largest and most ornate temple on the walk. Its towering walls were constructed using stones from the former Takayama Castle.
The shrine has several important cultural properties, including a cemetery for woodworkers (Takayama is a town built by its carvers). If you missed out on the calligraphy lessons at Daioji, they are also available here.
That’s the end of the temple-based portion of the Higashiyama Walking Course. From this point, the walk continues to loop around the old ruins of the castle. I would have needed another day in Takayama to get this done, and apparently, this part of the walk isn’t quite so interesting, so unless you’re very keen on walking, you might want to skip this bit and head back to the Old Town, which, despite all that you’ve seen is still only a ten-minute walk away.
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