Japan Heritage story
Hida no Takumi: 1,300 years of master woodworkers in Takayama
飛騨匠の技・こころ
Under a law of 718, Hida was the only province in Japan that paid its taxes in carpenters, sending about 100 a year to build the capital. Their skill and quiet, honest style still shape Takayama today.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles, Forests and timber
- Era
- Azuchi-Momoyama, Edo
- Region
- Chubu, Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- 飛騨匠の技・こころ
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 木とともに、今に引き継ぐ1300年
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 岐阜県（高山市）
The story
Ancient Japan taxed provinces in goods and labour. Hida alone was allowed to send skilled woodworkers instead, about 100 each year, to build palaces and temples such as Heijo Palace in Nara, Saidaiji and Ishiyamadera. The "Hida craftsman" became a byword for a master builder, and appears in the Man'yoshu poetry collection and The Tale of Genji.
Hida's forests, which still cover 92% of Takayama, hold many kinds of trees, and carpenters learned to read each wood and use it well. Long snowy winters bred a quiet, honest character, and Hida work is known for precise joinery and a plain beauty locals call koto.
What to see
- Araki shrine: a main hall rebuilt in 1390, in the Kokufu basin north of Takayama.Google Maps 荒城神社 高山市 (opens in a new tab)
- Ankokuji: its sutra hall of 1408 holds the oldest surviving revolving sutra case in Japan.Google Maps 安国寺 高山市国府町 (opens in a new tab)
- Atayuta and Kumano shrines: more medieval halls built from fine local cypress and cedar.
- Takayama's old town: the work of later generations of Hida carpenters and craftsmen.
Plan your visit with the Gifu prefecture guide and find more shrines and temples.
Good to know
- The Kokufu shrines are spread out, so a car or bicycle helps.
- Look at the joinery and the wood itself: the beauty is in the restraint, not in decoration.
- Takayama's winters are snowy; check roads before driving out to the basin.
Questions travellers ask
What was the Hida no Takumi system?
A rule in the Yoro code of 718 that let Hida province send about 100 woodworkers a year to the capital instead of paying taxes. No other province had it.
Where can I see Hida carpenters' oldest work?
In the Kokufu basin near Takayama, including Araki shrine's main hall (1390) and Ankokuji's sutra hall (1408).
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Aizu's 33 Kannon pilgrimage: faith with a day out
- Asuka: the women who shaped the birth of Japan
- Date Masamune's dazzling culture in Sendai and Matsushima
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Gifu: Oda Nobunaga's town of hospitality
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Iga and Koka: in search of the real ninja
- Izumo: the sacred land where the sun sets
- Kamenose: crossing the landslide heart of the Tatsuta Kodo
- Katsuragi Shugen: where mountain asceticism began
- Lake Biwa Canal: the waterway of hope from Otsu to Kyoto
- Lake Biwa: villages that live with the water
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.