Hida Takayama Local Quiz Practice: Questions and Explanations

Correct answerHida region

Gifu Prefecture is broadly split into the southern Mino region and the northern Hida region, and Takayama is the central hub city of the Hida region. The two regions trace back to separate ancient provinces, Mino and Hida, and the mountains dividing them mean Hida still carries a noticeably different dialect and climate from Mino.

Source:Background of Takayama's Historic Character Formation Plan (Natural Environment and Location)

Correct answerTakayama Nohi Bus Center

Takayama Nohi Bus Center is the transportation hub for Hida-Takayama tourism: besides local city bus routes, it also serves buses toward Shin-Hotaka and Shirakawa-go and highway buses to major cities such as Nagoya and Osaka. It sits almost next to JR Takayama Station, so visitors can switch between train, local bus, and long-distance bus after only a short walk.

Source:Takayama Nohi Bus Center | Sightseeing Spot | Gifu Official Tourism Site

Correct answerCattle such as Japanese Black that meet certain standards set by Gifu Prefecture

Hida beef is a Gifu Prefecture brand of cattle, such as Japanese Black, that meets standards set by the Hida Beef Brand Promotion Council. Only cattle that clear several conditions, including having spent the longest stretch of their life raised within Gifu Prefecture, may carry the name, so the certification rewards how an animal was raised rather than simply where it was born.

Source:Hida Beef | Hida Beef Brand Promotion Council

Correct answerMiso is placed on a magnolia (houba) leaf and grilled

Houba miso is a local dish made by grilling homemade koji miso on a large magnolia leaf, said to have originated when forestry workers used the leaf as a makeshift plate. It grew out of preserved-food traditions shared across the mountain villages of Nagano and Gifu, and today it is served as a standard item at Takayama's inns and restaurants.

Source:Houba Miso, Gifu Prefecture | Local Cuisine of Japan (Uchi no Kyodo Ryori)

Correct answerTrue

Takayama has an inland climate; Japan Meteorological Agency records show a January average temperature below freezing and an August average around 24°C, confirming the large seasonal temperature swing. Because the city sits in a basin, radiational cooling adds a sharp overnight chill, so the daily gap between morning and afternoon temperatures also tends to run wider than in flatland cities.

Source:Takayama (Gifu Prefecture) Climatological Normals (Annual and Monthly Values)

Correct answerSanno Matsuri in spring, Hachiman Matsuri in autumn

Takayama Festival is the collective name for the spring rite "Sanno Matsuri" and the autumn rite "Hachiman Matsuri," each held by a different shrine, Hie Shrine and Sakurayama Hachimangu. Although both share the single name "Takayama Festival," the shrines behind them and the floats paraded in each are entirely different, making them effectively two distinct festivals under one banner.

Source:Spring Takayama Festival | Takayama Yatai Preservation SocietyAutumn Takayama Festival (Hachiman Matsuri) | Sightseeing Spot | Gifu Official Tourism Site

Correct answerKarakuri hono (mechanical puppet performance)

At the Takayama Festival, one of the biggest highlights is the "karakuri hono," in which puppets atop the floats are made to move with remarkable skill by operators pulling dozens of ropes. Moving a single puppet requires several rope-pullers to coordinate their timing precisely, and this Edo-era puppetry technique is still handed down today.

Source:Spring Takayama Festival | Takayama Yatai Preservation Society

Correct answerA red-faced doll (folk craft) modeled after a monkey

Sarubobo is a folk toy shaped like a monkey with a red face, cherished as one of Takayama's representative souvenirs. Its featureless, blank face is a deliberate design choice, letting the doll reflect whatever wish its owner brings to it, and it has been passed down in Hida households for generations.

Source:Hida's Sarubobo | Takayama City

Correct answerIt uses Japan's only two-story gondola

The Shin-Hotaka Ropeway is known for using Japan's only two-story gondola, letting many passengers ride together and enjoy a leisurely trip through the sky, making it one of the region's most popular sightseeing spots. Its second section in particular climbs a large elevation gain, carrying riders in one continuous run from the mountain base to a summit station above 2,000 meters.

Source:About Shin-Hotaka Ropeway

Correct answer1995

The Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama were inscribed as a cultural World Heritage site in 1995. It was the first time an ordinary Japanese farmhouse settlement earned that status, with the row of steep, thatched gassho-zukuri roofs recognized internationally as a resourceful way of living through the region's heavy snow.

Source:Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama｜UNESCO世界遺産｜白川村

Correct answerTokyo

Tokyo is correct. Takayama City's area is comparable to that of the whole of Tokyo. After merging with nine surrounding towns and villages in 2005, it became the single largest city by area in Japan, even though its population is only about one percent of Tokyo's, spread thinly across that vast territory.

Source:Overview of Takayama City

Correct answerMiyagawa River

The Miyagawa River is correct. It flows north through the Takayama Basin and, near Inotani in Toyama Prefecture, joins the Takahara River and becomes the Jinzu River. The fact that a single river changes its name across a prefectural border reflects a history in which upstream and downstream communities each named and managed their own stretch.

Source:Jinzu River

Correct answerA highway bus

Highway bus is correct. Nohi Bus and Keio Bus jointly operate the Takayama/Hirayu Onsen–Shinjuku line, running directly from central Takayama to Busta Shinjuku with no transfer. Covering roughly 303km one way, this route is one of the few transportation links connecting mountain-locked Takayama directly to the greater Tokyo area.

Source:Takayama/Hirayu Onsen–Shinjuku Line

Correct answerSoy sauce

Soy sauce is correct. A light, clear soy-sauce broth made with chicken and seafood-based stock is the signature feature of Takayama ramen. Locals usually call it "chuka soba" rather than ramen, a name that reflects its history as an everyday dish for residents long before the district became a tourist draw.

Source:Hida Takayama local food! Six picks for Takayama ramen (Chinese-style noodles)

Correct answer5

5 is correct. Unlike the sweet "mitarashi dango" found elsewhere, this savory snack rooted in preserved food is basted with a soy sauce glaze and grilled, and 5 dumplings per stick is standard. In Takayama it is also pronounced with a voiced sound, "midarashi dango," and is a familiar snack for people strolling the morning markets.

Source:Midarashi dango

Correct answerJapanese yew (ichii)

Ichii-ittobori is a traditional Takayama craft whose main material is Japanese yew. The wood is dense and pliant, standing up well to fine detail carving, which is why it has long been prized as a carving material. Craftspeople carrying on the skills of the Hida artisans use it to carve zodiac figures and Buddhist statues among other lucky charms.

Source:Ichii-ittobori | Takayama City

Correct answerEnako Bandori

Enako Bandori is correct. This straw back cape has long been sold at markets such as the New Year's-closing Nijuyokka-ichi and remains a familiar Hida everyday item. Its name comes from Enako, the district in Takayama where it was traditionally made, and it was essential gear for fieldwork and carrying loads through the region's deep winter snow.

Source:A winter tradition: a walk through the Nijuyokka-ichi market

Correct answerHie Shrine

Hie Shrine is correct. Hie Shrine's annual festival is the Sanno Festival, and the Hachiman Festival is held by a different shrine. Hie Shrine is said to stand in the direction traditionally regarded as inauspicious for Takayama Castle, and it has prayed for the castle town's safety since the era of the Kanamori lords.

Source:Takayama Festival floats

Correct answerSakurayama Hachimangu

Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine is correct. Its annual festival is the Hachiman Festival, and the Sanno Festival is held by a different shrine. The shrine grounds also host the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall, a rare spot where visitors can see some of the actual parade floats on display throughout the year.

Source:Takayama Festival floats

Correct answerTired

"Tired" is correct. Unlike the standard Japanese meaning of "great," the Hida dialect word "erai" (erē) means "tired" or "worn out." Similar usage survives in parts of the Tokai and Kinki regions, and the phrase is commonly exchanged as an everyday way of acknowledging someone's hard work.

Source:Hida dialect

Correct answerAbout 2,750m

The correct answer is about 2,750m. Takayama City covers a vast, mountainous area (the largest of any city in Japan), and the elevation difference within the city reaches about 2,750m. A single municipality contains both a basin-floor town center and 3,000-meter Northern Alps peaks, producing sharp differences in climate and daily life from one part of the city to another.

Source:Overview of Takayama City

Correct answerAbout 305cm

The Takayama station's 1991–2020 normal for total snowfall depth is 305 cm. Within the same city, the Shokawa area carries the stricter designation of a special heavy-snowfall zone, and years with even more snow than the central district are not unusual, showing how much snowfall varies across Takayama's own territory.

Source:Takayama (Gifu) normals, annual and monthly snow values | Japan Meteorological Agency

Correct answerAbout 7 times

The correct answer is about 7 times. In 2019, foreign overnight guest-nights reached a figure far exceeding the city's population. A mountain city of roughly 80,000 residents drew more than 600,000 foreign overnight stays that year, a level of inbound demand that stands out sharply among Japan's regional cities.

Source:How Gifu's Takayama City drew 620,000 international visitors — seven times its population

Correct answerTwo hands joined in prayer

Gassho refers to the gesture of pressing both hands together in prayer, and the name was given because the steep roof frame resembles that shape. The form both sheds heavy snow easily and creates a spacious attic that could be used as a sericulture workspace, so the design embodies practical wisdom built up for life in this snowy region.

Source:合掌造りとは｜白川村

Correct answerDo not sell / Do not rent out / Do not demolish

The three principles are “do not sell, do not rent out, and do not demolish,” a philosophy of protecting the landscape while people continue to live there. Rather than relying solely on government action, it is a form of resident-led self-governance premised on families actually continuing to live in their gassho houses, a practice that predates the World Heritage inscription itself.

Source:荻町伝統的建造物群保存地区｜白川村

Correct answerThe 23 festival floats are designated Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties → The float event itself is designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property → It is inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list as one of the "Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan"

The Takayama Festival floats were designated an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property on June 9, 1960 (Showa 35), and the float event itself was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property on February 3, 1979 (Showa 54). Then in 2016, together with 33 festivals nationwide, it was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list as one of the "Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan."

Source:Takayama Festival FloatsTakayama Festival Float Event

Correct answerA raised alcove floor about 4.5m wide with a seigaiha wave pattern

The entrance hall of the Goyakusho features a raised alcove floor about 4.5m (two-and-a-half ken) wide together with a seigaiha wave pattern, both signaling the 100,000-koku status befitting the office of the magistrate and district governor. Hida Province's actual assessed yield fell well short of 100,000 koku, so this deliberately elevated formality is thought to have been a way of projecting the authority of a shogunate-administered territory.

Source:Takayama Jin'ya Site | Takayama CityTakayama Jin'ya Site

Correct answerIt is the only one nationwide whose buildings still survive

Among the more than 50 magistrate/district-governor offices that once existed nationwide during the Edo era, Takayama Jin'ya is considered the only one nationwide whose buildings still survive, having escaped the wave of demolitions that removed most of the others after the Meiji era. Gifu Prefecture's three-stage restoration project then established the present appearance.

Source:Takayama Jin'ya Site

Correct answer1879 (Meiji 12), by Kawashiri Jisuke

Kusakabe House's main hall was built in 1879 (Meiji 12) by the renowned Hida craftsman Kawashiri Jisuke, notable for its orderly yet dynamic beam structure. The building replaced an earlier structure lost to a major fire in the early Meiji era, and the surviving main hall was rebuilt soon afterward by drawing together the skills of Hida's carpentry tradition.

Source:Important Cultural Property: Kusakabe House (Main Hall, Storehouse, New Storehouse)

Correct answerIt was built in 1907 (Meiji 40), about 30 years after the Kusakabe House

The main hall of the Yoshijima House was built in 1907 (Meiji 40), about 30 years after the neighboring Kusakabe House. Its impressive beams and roof framing around the open atrium show a refined townhouse craftsmanship. Because the two neighboring houses date from different building generations, visitors can compare them side by side to see how Hida's townhouse architecture evolved over roughly three decades.

Source:Yoshijima House (Oshin-machi, Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture) - Main Hall

Correct answerJust 1 (Hida Province only)

Hida Province was the only provincial-level unit nationwide subject to this special tax provision. Other provinces paid the standard taxes (so, yo, cho) as usual, while only Hida substituted the dispatch of woodworking craftsmen for part of its standard tax burden. Seen the other way around, the arrangement also shows just how highly the imperial court valued Hida's woodworking skill, since it was judged worth substituting for the standard tax burden carried by every other province.

Source:The Skill and Spirit of Hida Craftsmen

Correct answerIt uses the actual storehouses of a leading Takayama merchant house as its exhibition space

The distinctive feature of the Hida Takayama Museum of History and Art is that it uses the actual storehouses once used by a leading Takayama merchant house as its exhibition space, housing materials that introduce Takayama's history and culture. The thick walls and small windows typical of these storehouses were originally built as protection against fire and theft, so the building itself doubles as a historical artifact alongside what it displays.

Source:Hida Takayama Museum of History and Art

Correct answerA white old monkey was seen bathing in the water to heal its leg, prompting people to bathe there themselves

A late-Edo-era text, the "Hirayu Onsenki," records a legend that when troops of a Takeda vassal's army were incapacitated by poisonous mist, they saw a white old monkey bathe in the spring to heal its leg before bounding away; those who witnessed this rushed to bathe there themselves and recovered their strength.

Source:Okuhida Onsen Area: Hirayu Onsen

Correct answerFossils such as tabulate corals indicating the Devonian period, roughly 400 million years ago

The Fukuji Formation around Fukuji Onsen is representative of Devonian-period strata in Japan, known for fossils such as tabulate corals dating to roughly 400 million years ago, in the Devonian period. The "Fukuji Fossil Museum" showcases these fossils, considered among the oldest confirmed fossil finds in Japan, which is part of why this mountain hot-spring area also draws attention from geologists.

Source:Fukuji: A Leading Fossil Site in Japan Where the Country's Oldest Fossils Were Discovered

Correct answerAbout 64m

Hirayu Otaki has a drop of about 64m and a width of about 6m, and is considered one of Hida's three great waterfalls. In winter it freezes into a massive ice pillar, and the "Hirayu Otaki Ice Festival" is held to celebrate it.

Source:Hirayu Otaki

Correct answerThat it is dry enough to slay even a demon, and drives out the bad in a person's heart

"Oni-koroshi" is said to carry two meanings: that it is a dry sake strong enough to slay even a demon, and that it drives out the bad within a person's heart. Sake breweries with a similarly named brand exist elsewhere in Japan too, but at this Takayama brewery the dry sake has long been cherished as its flagship label.

Source:Company Profile

Correct answerThe Miya River and the Hida River

Mt. Kurai is said to form the "Kurai-yama watershed" dividing the Miya River and the Hida River. It is also venerated as the sacred body of Hida Ichinomiya Minashi Shrine. Rain falling on the north side of this divide flows via the Miya River into the Jinzu River, while rain on the south side flows via the Hida River into the Kiso River, so the mountain effectively splits runoff between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific.

Source:Mt. Kurai

Correct answerIt uses Japanese yew. / It is finished using carving knives alone. / It makes use of the wood's natural tone and grain.

Ichii-ittobori is carved from its main wood material with carving knives alone. It is left uncolored so the wood's natural tone and grain remain visible. Japanese yew naturally has different tones in its sapwood and heartwood, and that contrast alone can suggest pattern and shading, which is part of why the craft leaves the wood uncolored.

Source:Ichii-ittobori | Takayama City

Correct answer1935

Shirakawa Village records that the German architect Bruno Taut, who had fled Nazi Germany and was living in Japan at the time, visited Shirakawa-go in 1935. He is said to have praised the rational, functional design of the gassho-zukuri houses, and this visit is credited with helping build momentum for the later preservation movement and eventual World Heritage inscription.

Source:合掌造りとは｜白川村

Correct answerDecember

The Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in December 1995, sixty years after German architect Bruno Taut's visit to the village. The listing marked a turning point, drawing international attention to a cluster of steep-roofed gassho-zukuri houses tucked away in a heavy-snow mountain region.

Source:荻町伝統的建造物群保存地区｜白川村