Takayama is known as "little Kyoto" by virtue of its antiquity and refined wooden buildings, some of them built by the same artisans who helped build old Kyoto. Downsizing further, Hida Furukawa - a 15 minute train ride west - is known as "little Takayama" because it shares the architectural style. But it is much smaller and has retained a more authentic atmosphere, with fewer tourists.
Hida Furukawa was the starting point for a leisurely bike tour: a 20km circuit taking most of the afternoon. I'm not sure "remote" exists in agricultural Japan. Most of my FB photos disguise the fact that we were often on busy roads and always within view of houses and agricultural buildings. But human interest was high and our guide did a great job, explaining the fish trap built by a local restaurant every year, the rice-growing cycle, different types of rice, association of sake and shrines (offerings to the gods, shrines built in vicinity of cedars, the big cedar ball that hangs outside sake breweries), the shift away from farming, how farmers were engaged in silk production as a way of using winter "down time".
At times I felt as though my recent experience with the Morimotos was at least as interesting as his stories of former times. But it was an enjoyable spin that kept me out of the tourist shops in the city...
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