Gujo Hachiman: The Water Town That Dances All Night

Gujo Hachiman is the kind of place that rearranges your sense of what a Japanese town can sound like. Instead of traffic, you hear water. Clear, fast mountain streams run through the back alleys between houses, along the main shopping street, and under the stone lanterns of small shrines. Residents wash vegetables in them. Carp live in them. On a hot day, children sit in them. The town has been doing this for four hundred years, and has somehow also become the place where almost all of Japan’s plastic food replicas are made. It is an odd, specific, wonderful small town.

Why this place

Set at the meeting of two clear rivers in the Nagara watershed, Gujo Hachiman grew as a castle town in the early Edo period. The castle still looks down from its wooded hill, recognisably the same silhouette as the woodblock prints. Below it, the old merchant town is tightly laid out around a network of narrow stone waterways and gutters called igawa and yabusame, fed directly from the mountains. The water is cold, clean, and everywhere.

The town’s other claim is cultural. Each summer, from mid-July to early September, Gujo holds the Gujo Odori, a folk dance festival more than 400 years old. For four nights in mid-August, the dance runs straight through to dawn, and anyone, locals, visitors, first-timers, can join the circle.

Getting there

Gujo Hachiman is in the mountains of central Gifu, reached via Nagoya.

• From Nagoya: Take the JR Takayama Main Line limited express Hida from Nagoya Station to Mino-Ota (around 50 minutes), then transfer to the Nagaragawa Railway, a small local line that follows the Nagara River into the mountains. The Nagaragawa Railway ride to Gujo Hachiman Station takes around 1 hour 20 minutes. Total journey: roughly 2 hours 15 minutes, about 3,000 yen one way.
• By highway bus: The Gifu Bus from Nagoya Meitetsu Bus Centre runs direct to Gujo Hachiman in about 1 hour 30 minutes for roughly 2,100 yen, often the simpler option.

Gujo Hachiman Station is about 20 minutes on foot from the old town, or a short local bus ride.

What to see

The old town waterways

Walk the lanes of the Kitamachi district, especially the famous Yanaka Komichi and the Igawa Komichi, where narrow stone channels run between houses under wooden eaves. A small sign marks points where locals still do their washing in the communal water basins.

Sogi-sui spring

In the heart of the old town, Sogi-sui is a small covered spring that has been selected as one of Japan’s “hundred best waters”. Residents line up to fill bottles from it. There are cups provided; it is worth tasting.

Gujo Hachiman Castle

The castle sits on a steep hill above the town, reached by a 15-minute walk up a switchback path. The current keep is a 1930s wooden reconstruction, said to be the oldest wooden reconstructed castle in Japan, and it creaks pleasingly underfoot. The view over the town and the confluence of the two rivers is the reason to climb.

The food sample workshops

Gujo is the historical centre of Japan’s plastic food replica industry. Several workshops in town let visitors try making their own tempura, lettuce, or parfait from wax and silicone. It is kitsch, genuinely skilled, and a surprisingly good souvenir.

Jionzenji Temple and the old teahouse street

At the quieter north end of town, this small Zen temple has a dry garden and a set of old wooden buildings that give a sense of how the merchant quarter looked before modern renovation.

Things to do

• Join the Gujo Odori. During the season, the dance takes place almost every night in a different part of town, with musicians on a wheeled wooden stage and concentric circles of dancers. Beginners are welcome. For the four all-night “Tetsuya Odori” sessions in mid-August, come early and pace yourself.
• Make a fake parfait. Several sample workshops run 30- to 60-minute sessions for around 1,500 to 3,500 yen.
• Fish for ayu. The Nagara River is one of Japan’s classic ayu (sweetfish) rivers. In summer, licensed guides lead fly and lure fishing sessions; even if you do not fish, grilled ayu is on every restaurant menu.
• Walk the riverside. A level path follows the Yoshida River through town, crossing it on small wooden bridges.
• Borrow a yukata. A few shops near the old town rent yukata by the afternoon, particularly popular during the dance season.

In Gujo, the water is both the scenery and the infrastructure. Once you notice it, you cannot stop noticing it.

Where to eat

• Ayu (sweetfish), salt-grilled on a skewer, is the local fish, sweet and faintly bitter. Small shops along the main street grill them in summer.
• Keichan, a Gifu chicken dish marinated in miso or soy and pan-fried with cabbage at your table; served at casual family restaurants in and around Gujo.
• Gujo somen and cold noodles, made with local spring water. Small noodle shops near the old town serve them in summer.
• Meiho ham, a smoked, dry-cured regional ham from the nearby Meiho district, good on a bento or in a sandwich for a castle picnic.

For sweets, look for shops selling water manju, clear chilled jellies filled with sweet bean paste, made to be eaten by the waterways in summer.

Where to stay

Gujo Hachiman is small enough that almost any lodging is within walking distance of the old town.

• Traditional ryokan in the old town: 15,000 to 30,000 yen per person with two meals, rising sharply during the mid-August Tetsuya Odori nights, when booking a year in advance is not unusual.
• Minshuku and family-run inns: 8,000 to 14,000 yen per person with breakfast or two meals.
• Business hotels near the station and along the main road: 7,000 to 11,000 yen per room.
• Guesthouses and hostels in converted machiya houses: around 4,000 to 6,000 yen per person in a dorm, up to 10,000 yen for private rooms.

The Kitamachi and Honmachi districts put you in the oldest, quietest lanes. Near the station is more convenient for early trains.

Practical tips

• Best season: Mid-July to early September for the Gujo Odori; mid-October to early November for autumn leaves around the castle; late April for cherry blossoms along the rivers. Winters are cold and can be snowy.
• How many days: One night gives you the old town, the castle, and a sample workshop. Add a second night if you are coming during the dance.
• Cash vs card: Larger ryokan and hotels accept cards; many small shops, workshops, and the Nagaragawa Railway are cash only. There is a Japan Post ATM near the old town.
• Language: English is limited but the tourist information centre near the old town has bilingual maps and can help book sample workshops.
• Etiquette: The waterways are for everyone, but they are also drinking and washing water for residents. Do not step into the channels, drop litter, or let pets swim. During the Gujo Odori, join the circle in the direction everyone else is dancing, copy your neighbour’s hands and feet for a few bars, and you will find it comes quickly.