Takayama is a beautiful city in the middle of the Japanese Alps. It sits on a long expanse of flat plain lands, which was very lucrative for people back in the day to farm and grow rice. And it became an oasis for people who wanted to get away from war and battles in the low lands.
Even though Takayama is in the mountains, these flat open lands are wide enough to get much more sun than all the other villages and settlements in the valleys. On average, the temperature is about 5 degrees higher in Takayama in winter making it more comfortable.
I always imagined the shape of Takayama like a dish, flat with curved edges. And you can totally see this idea take shape from the observation deck at Mukodaira at the south end of town.
The homes and neighborhoods creep up to the very edge of the hills and mountains to take maximum advantage of the available space.
Here's a large panoramic photo I put together:
From up here, on the south end of town, you have a clear view of Miya River 宮川 as it snakes its way through town. You can also see Takayama Train Line and Route 41 coming from the same area through the valley to enter in Takayama's south side. You can see some of Takayama's schools, hotels, the southside grocery store, and Takayama's only porn store still in business somehow.
Despite living here for 13 years, I did not know of this vantage point until I was searching around on Google Maps and noticed it. Getting there is a little tricky, though. In this area of town, there's a small road between the two houses in the bottom photo. Just follow that road up into the mountain. It takes about 10 minutes to reach an area to park. From there, it's a quick 5 minute walk to the observation deck.
You can even see the observation deck in the photo on top of the short mountain. There's nothing else up here, though. There's no shrine or temple. Most mountains have a shrine or marker at the top for a local diety, but here there's nothing. The observation deck feels like an afterthought after plowing through the mountain to make towers for powerlines.
At the base of the mountain, though, is Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine. Some of the shrine members were clearing snow from the walkways and setting up for a bonfire in the evening.
On a clear day, Mukodaira is a fun quick trip to see the town from a different point of view. It's easy enough to get there that you could even make the trip at night. Maybe I'll do that the next time they plan on having fireworks.
