Takayama Jinya
高山陣屋
The only surviving main building of a Tokugawa shogunate local government office in Japan. The Hida governor worked here for nearly 180 years, and visitors can tour the offices, the Shirasu courtyard and the rice storehouse.
Takayama Jinya was a local administrative office, called a gundai or daikansho, set up by the Tokugawa shogunate in each of its directly controlled domains. After Hida became a shogunate domain in 1692, the jinya served as the office and residence of the Hida governor for 177 years. After the Meiji Restoration, it continued as a local government office. Japan had more than 60 similar jinya in the Edo period, but Takayama's main building is the only one that survives, so it is designated a National Historic Site. Highlights include the entrance and main hall, the governor's study and living quarters, the Shirasu (the courtyard where trials were held), with its instruments of punishment, the kitchen, and the largest and oldest surviving rice storehouse in Japan (Onokura, which stored annual tax rice). Exhibits explain the Edo-period annual rice tax system and show old maps. Admission is about ¥440. Opening hours are 08:45–17:00 from March to October, and 08:45–16:30 from November to February. Free English tours by volunteers are available. Every morning (about 07:00–12:00), the Jinya-mae Morning Market is held in the square in front of the jinya. It is smaller than the Miyagawa Morning Market but has a more local atmosphere. Access: about 10 minutes on foot from JR Takayama Station. Allow about one hour for a visit.
Opening hours
Mar–Oct 08:45–17:00; Nov–Feb 08:45–16:30
Nearby sights
- Jinya-mae Morning Market
- Nakabashi Bridge
- Sanmachi Suji Old Town
- Miyagawa Morning Market
- Takayama Museum of History and Art
- Hida Takayama Showa-kan
- Hida Kokubun-ji
- Shiroyama Park (Takayama Castle Ruins)