Tonami & Gokayama

Tonami Tulip Gallery
The Tonami Tulip Gallery is located adjacent to the Tonami Tulip Park on its eastern side and offers information about tulips to the public. It has various facilities such as a "Tulip Square" where you can appreciate tulips blooming with lovely flowers in all seasons and a "Tulip Terrace" where you can enjoy flowers in every season, attracting many tourists throughout the year.
0763-33-7716
15 minute walk from JR Tonami Station. Tonami.
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Tonami Tulip Fair
A very appropriate event to be held in Tonami City, noted for its extensive tulip cultivation, this nationwide known tulip fair features 1 million tulips of around 450 varieties blooming all over the Tonami Tulip Park. The flowers are very pleasing the eyes of visitors to the park where various events are held on occasion of the fair.
●Late April to Early May in Tonami Tulip Park
15 minute walk from JR Tonami Station. Tonami.
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Nanto-shi Engei Shokubutsu-en (horticultural botanical garden) Floral Park
With chrysanthemums and other composite plants, the cultivation of which is flourishing in this area, mainly displayed in its internal exhibition space. The floral park externally consists of four characteristic zones including the "Koyo" (autumn foliage) zone where trees whose leaves become tinted in autumn are grown, the "Donguri" (acorns) zone and the "Kotori-o-yobu" zone in which trees bearing fruit are grown, to attract birds ("kotori-o-yobu"). It offers visitors a place for relaxation and recreation.
0763-22-8711
10 minute walk from JR Fukuno Station. Nanto.
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Omaki Onsen (hot spring)
Located in the unexplored gorge area that can only be reached by the Sho River Gorge sightseeing boat that departs from a point near Shogawa Komaki Dam, the Omaki Onsen (hot spring) gorge resort is equipped with an accommodation facility "Omaki Onsen Kanko Ryokan" (hot spring tourist inn). Standing quietly by the dammed lake, it welcomes visitors with two types of hot springs baths - one located inside and the other outside (an open-air bath), both of which can be used leisurely for relaxation and recreation.
0763-82-0363 (Omaki Onsen Kanko Ryokan)
1 hour by Kaetsu-no bus for Nishi-akao or Shimohara from JR Takaoka Station. Get off at Komaki-entei (dam) bus stop, nearby the platform for boarding the Shogawa River Gorge sightseeing boat that takes you to the hot spring inn in about 30 minutes. Nanto.
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Sho River Gorge and Boat Tour through the Gorge
Beautifully created by rich nature, the Sho River Gorge offers a spot of tourist interest, featuring its changing scenery season to season along the shore of the lake of Shogawa Dam; fresh green in spring and colorfully tinged foliage in autumn. You can appreciate this beautiful view of the gorge by using the sightseeing boat available to allow you to tour through the gorge river from near Komaki Dam to Omaki Onsen in Toga Village and back for about one hour.
0763-82-0220 (Kansai Denryoku Shogawa Senpaku Office)
1 hour by Kaetsu-no bus for Nishi-akao or Shimohara from JR Takaoka Station. Get off at Komaki Entei Station, which the sightseeing boat boarding platform is near by. Tonami.
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Shogawa mizu Memorial Park
The water from nearby Sho River is the theme of this park, where all kinds of nature, culture, and industry related facilities are located. You will find a water information center, an art museum, a local products center, and a "wood plaza," where you can become intimate with the forest and wooden products.
0763-82-4316
20 minutes by bus from Inami Station. Tonami.
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Inami Kibori-no-sato (home of wood carving) "Souyuu-kan"
Built adjacently to the Inami Wood Carving Center ("Chokoku Sogo Kaikan"), Inami Kibori-no-sato "Soyuu-kan", as indicated by its name, offers amenities for creating various pleasures. These include "Kurie-to Kobo" (a workshop named by altering the English word "create") in which you can experience woodcarving and woodcraft, a restaurant where you can enjoy various specialties of the town, a wood perfumed bath and other facilities for relaxation and recreation.
0763-82-5757
Approx. 1 hour by Kaetsu-no bus for Inami-shogawa from JR Takaoka Station. Get off at Kanjoji-guchi bus stop and walk 5 minutes. Nanto.
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Inami Chokoku Sogo Kaikan (Wood Carving Center)
Built as a center for "Inami Chokoku" (woodcarving) with its building designed in a traditional Japanese style, the Inami Chokoku Sogo Kaikan center displays and sells various handicraft works created by the essence of the Inami craftsmen's skills. Works such as "ranma" (type of transom), "tuitate" (low screen), "shishi-gashira" (the head of a lion-like imaginary beast) and other woodcarvings boasting of the 220-odd year tradition of contemporary carvings.
0763-82-5158
Approx. 1 hour by Kaetsu-no bus for Inami-shogawa from JR Takaoka Station.Get off at Kanjoji-guchi bus stop and walk 5 minutes. Nanto.
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Zuisenji Temple
Founded by Buddhist priest Shakunyo, the 5th head master of Honganji (the major temple of the Jodo-shin Sect of Buddhism), in the first year of the Meitoku era (1390), Zuisenji Temple boasts of tradition over 600 years. Its main feature is its main gate with "Unsui-ippiki-ryu" (dragon) carved into it. This carving is a work of the carver from Kyoto who is alleged to be a founder of "Inami Chokoku", the woodcarving skill handed down thereafter from generation to generation in this town. The temple hosts many traditional events such as "Taishi-den-e", a lecture meeting on the life of Taishi (a statesman of the Asuka period (593-710) deeply devoted to Buddhism and well versed in information both at home and overseas about the establishment of the Seventeen Article-Constitution).
0763-82-0004
Approx. 1 hour by Kaetsu-no bus for Inami-shogawa from JR Takaoka Station. Get off at Zuisenji-mae bus stop, which the temple is nearby. Nanto.
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Sakura-ga-ike Koen (lakeside park)/Sakura-ga-ike Kurgarden
Built around Sakura-ga-ike, an artificial lake 3km in circumference, this park features cherry trees ("sakura") blooming with beautiful flowers in the spring and irises ("shobu") coming into full bloom in early summer, offering a good lakeside resort for families in all seasons. Recently opened by this lake as a European-style Kur-resort facility, Sakura-ga-ike Kurgarden is complete with various amenities including a hotel, natural hot spring bath, hot spring water pool, and therapy programs.
0763-62-8181 (Sakura-ga-ike Kurgarden)
10 minutes by car from JR Johana Station. (Note that shuttle bus service from the facility is available upon request.) Nanto.
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Johana Hikiyama Kaikan
All kinds of information and rare materials used in Johana's Hikiyama festival, which has a 300 year history, are on permanent display.
0763-62-2165
10 minutes on foot from Johana Station. Nanto.
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Toga Soba no Sato
The area around Toga Village is well known for its crop of high quality buckwheat, used in making soba noodles. You can try making soba noodles yourself, visit the country's only soba information center, and try eating the noodles.
0763-68-2034
60 minutes by bus from Etchu Yatsuo Station. Nanto.
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Meiso-no-sato (center of meditation)
Built with magnificently rising mountains behind it, Meiso-no-sato (literally meaning "center of meditation") has various facilities to offer people meditation space. For example: "Meiso-no-yakata" (museum of Buddhist meditation) which displays four mandala paintings (drawn by a Buddhist painter invited from Tukuche - Togaﾕs sister-village in Nepal - to reside in the village to draw such paintings). There are also Buddha images of Tibetan Buddhism and ornaments used in the traditional Lama dance, and "Meiso-bi-no-yakata" (museum of beauty of Buddhist meditation) standing adjacent to "Meiso-no-yakata", in which two paintings of the two-world mandala by the same Tibetan Buddhist artist are on display.
0763-68-2324
1 hour by the Toga Village-run bus for Kami-momose from JR Etchu Yatsuo Station. Get off at Sogo-center and change to the Village-run bus for Taikanba, which takes you to Uebatake bus stop in 5 minutes. From the bus stop, walk 20 minutes. Nanto.
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World Heritage 　- Ainokura "Gassho" (thatched gable roof)-style House Community
As a community of over twenty households in Taira Village, Ainokura features its architectural structure known as "Gassho-zukuri" (a house with a thatched gable roof, so named because of its shape resembling hands clasped in prayer: "gassho"), steeply sloping at an angle of 60 degrees for protection against heavy snowfall in winter. The village community of these "Gassho-zukuri" houses was recognized for its historic value by the World Heritage Committee and added to the World Heritage List in 1995. The seasonal lifestyle of the households in this community remains unchanged from old times, allowing visitors to time-travel into the past.
0763-66-2468 (Gokayama Tourism Association)
25 minutes by Kaetsu-no bus for Gokayama from JR Johana Station. Get off at Ainokuraguchi bus stop and walk 3 minutes. Nanto.
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Iwase Family residence
The Iwase Family residence was built about 300 years ago during the Edo period (1600-1868) by Fujii Chouemon, the head master of a powerful family who was entrusted by the Kaga clan to manage "ensho" (gunpowder material) produced in the area. This house's feature is its "Gassho-zukuri" (steep sloping gable roof) architecture, the largest of its style in the "Gokayama" district. With a large family of as many as 35 persons living in it at that time, this house also served as a place for manufacturing "ensho" (gunpowder mataerial) in the summer and "washi" (traditional Japanese paper) in the winter. Entirely constructed of "keyaki" (zelkova known as construction material of excellent surface beauty, strength, fine grain and durability), the house has various rooms including a "shoin-no-ma" (drawing room with an alcove) designed to receive officials from the Kaga clan.
0763-67-3338
45 minutes by Kaetsu-no bus for Gokayama from JR Johana Station. Get off at Nishi-akao bus stop, near the house. Nanto.
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Gokayama Minzoku-kan (folklore museum) and 　Ensho-no-yakata (gunpowder production museum)
These museums were made in "Gassho-zukuri" style houses as built at the end of the Edo period (1600-1868). The two museums display utensils that were used in daily life by people in that area, such as tools for paper-making and silkworm raising. Also displayed are other historically important folklore articles and materials including those for the production of "ensho" (gunpowder that flourished in Gokayama as its very important industry). Visitors can get an idea of what the life confronting the severity of nature was for people in that area.
0763-67-3652 (for Minzoku-kan)
0763-67-3262 (for Ensho-no-yakata)
35 minutes by Kaetsu-no bus for Gokayama from JR Johana Station. Get off at Suganuma bus stop and walk 3 minutes. Nanto.
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Gyotoku-ji Temple
Gyotoku-ji Temple was founded about 500 years ago by Akao Doshu, a distinguished disciple of Rennyo Shonin (known as the restorer of the Jodo-shin Sect of Buddhism and the 8th head master of its major temple, "Honganji", during the Muromachi period 1333-1568) and an earnest devotee of that sect of Buddhism. Gyotoku-ji Temple's thatch-roofed two-storied main gate makes it look like it is wearing a large "kasa" (straw hat), reminding visitors of the appearance of an mountain temple long left unexplored.
0763-67-3302
45 minutes by Kaetsu-no bus for Gokayama from JR Johana Station. Get off at Nishi-akao bus stop, which the temple is nearby. Nanto.
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Michi-no-eki (roadway station) Taira - Gokayama Washi-no-sato 　(traditional Japanese paper center)
As a spot to stop for rest during your travel in this area, Michi-no-eki (literally meaning "roadway station") has five facilities where you can obtain a first-hand experience with the tradition of Taira Village. At the "Washi-kogei-kan" (traditional Japanese paper museum) you can learn the history and tradition of Gokayama "washi", including its manufacturing technique, which has supported Taira Village as its major industry. At the "Washi-taiken-kan" (paper making experience house) built in "Gasho-zukuri" style (characterized by a steep sloping gable roof), you can challenge yourself to make your own traditional "Gokayama-washi" paper. There is a 500yen charge per paper for this paper making experience, which takes about 15 minutes.
0763-66-2223 (Washi-kogei-kan/Washi-taiken-kan)
30 minutes by Kaetsu-no bus for Gokayama from JR Johana Station. Get off at Shimonashi bus stop and change to Village-run bus for Soyama, which takes you to Michi-no-eki Taira in 10 minutes, nearby "Washi-no-sato". Nanto.
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