Sightseeing Guide

Present Takayama city was formed on 1 Feb. 2005 as a result of merging 9　surrounding　towns and villages to the former Takayama city. Due to this merger, Takayama city has become the largest municipality in terms of its area in Japan, exceeding the largest city, Shizuoka, the largest town, Ashoro, and the largest village, Rubetsu. Moreover, Takayama city is larger than Kagawa and Osaka prefectures, and is almost as the same area size as Tokyo metropolitan excluding islands. Takayama city is the only municipality in Japan that is larger than a prefecture in terms of its geographical size. However, inhabitable land is limited as 92% of its area is occupied by mountain forest.

In the center of former Takayama city, a castle and merchant towns from the Edo Period have been maintained to today. Due to its landscape, the region is called Little Kyoto in Hida region. In sightseeing guides, the region is introduced as Hida Takayama, attracting a large number of visitors from across Japan every year. Recently, Hida Takayama was introduced as a town maintaining an original landscape of Japan, and the number of tourists from overseas is on the increase as well. Hida Takayama has acquired 3 stars in the French Michelin practical guidebook “Voyager Pratique Japon” as a must visit sightseeing spot.