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A well-preserved castle town with a coherent townscape
Hida San-machi is the oldest neighborhood in Takayama City, in Gifu Prefecture, in central Japan. It is a very beautiful neighborhood with a coherent townscape. In 1586, Nagachika Kanamori, who was this district's administrative official, built a castle here and established a residential area for the townspeople in a location that could be seen from the castle. These neighborhoods were named Ichiban-machi, Niban-machi, and Sanban-machi, and together were referred to as Hida San (three) -machi. San-machi later became cultural center of the townspeople's lives. In 1692, this area came under the direct control of the central government and the refined culture of the capital, Edo (the present Tokyo), flowed into the city. This influence helped develop the culture of San-machi. San-machi has had many fires over the years, but even so it retains the look of the Edo period (1603-1869) to this day.
Hida was a lumber producing region, and trees were cut down and made into lumber at a specified length of 14 shaku 5 sun (approximately 4.4 meters or 4.8 yards). This became the upper limit on the height of posts used in houses in the San-machi area. As a result, the houses are almost all around 4.2 meters (approximately 4.6 yards) tall, creating a beautiful coherence in the townscape. The houses have large, moderately sloping roofs, small eaves, large front doors, small-sized sliding doors, and lattices (Takayama lattices) stained with red ocher and tin. Ditches run in front of the houses. Metallic rings for tying horses and altars to gods that protect against fires can be seen throughout this neighborhood, creating a real sense of history. Photos: Hida San-machi (Gifu Prefecture) Unauthorized reproduction of the
photos in this page is prohibited.
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