Toyama: Local Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines & Temples, Sightseeing | Japan 47 Prefecture Guide
Toyama's terrain is extreme. Peaks of 3,000 metres and a bay 1,000 metres deep are joined across a very short distance. That drop makes the food, the scenery and the beliefs alike.
Local Specialties
Toyama Bay is deep. Deep-sea fish can therefore be caught close inshore: white shrimp, firefly squid, winter yellowtail.
Firefly squid rise into the shallows on spring nights and glow. What is designated a Special Natural Monument is not the squid but the place: the sea surface of Toyama Bay where they swarm. The phenomenon is protected together with where it happens.
Inland, rice. Snowmelt from the Tateyama range runs straight into the paddies.
Souvenirs
Masu-no-sushi is trout cured in vinegar and packed with bamboo leaves into a round bentwood box. It began as a preserved food using cherry salmon caught in the Jinzu river. The bentwood box is itself a local woodworking skill.
Dried white shrimp, kelp-cured fish, and a Takaoka copper wind bell.
Sacred Sites | Shrines & Temples
Zuiryuji and Zuiryuji Sanmon holds National Treasures. 26 shrines and temples worth knowing in Toyama.
Oyama Jinja(Tateyama)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Etchu Province / Important Cultural Property / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: mountain worship, rebirth and renewal, warding off misfortune
Three sites make up one shrine: the Maetate hall in the village, the Chugu prayer hall, and the Mine main hall at the 3,003-metre summit of Tateyama. In the Edo period women were not allowed on the mountain, and instead crossed a cloth-covered bridge blindfolded in the Nunobashi Kanjoe. A substitute mechanism: salvation without the climb.
Zuiryuji(Takaoka)Buddhist temple / National Treasure / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Its gate, Buddha hall and lecture hall are National Treasures. The funerary temple of Maeda Toshinaga of the Kaga domain, it preserves the symmetrical layout of Zen architecture.
Inami Betsuin Zuisenji(Nanto)Buddhist temple / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Carving workshops still line the street before its gate. The temple came first; Inami carving became an industry afterwards.
Keta Jinja(Takaoka)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Etchu Province / Important Cultural Property / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: love and relationships, good harvests
One of the shrines claiming to be first of Etchu Province, said to have been invited from Keta Taisha in Noto.
Johana Betsuin Zentokuji(Nanto)Buddhist temple / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
The heart of Johana, which prospered as its gate town. The stage of the Hikiyama and Mugiya festivals.
Takaoka Daibutsu(Takaoka)Buddhist temple / Counted among the Three Great Buddhas of Japan / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
A bronze Great Buddha cast with the techniques of Takaoka copperware. The local industry, given form.
Maetate Shadan(Tateyama)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: mountain worship
The hall down in the village. The climb up Tateyama begins here.
Chugu Kigalden(Tateyama)Shinto shrine / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: mountain worship
At Ashikuraji, it served as the base of Tateyama belief.
Zuiryuji Sanmon(Takaoka)Buddhist temple / National Treasure / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
The gate, Buddha hall and lecture hall are all National Treasures, laid out in strict symmetry.
Inami Chokoku(Nanto)Buddhist temple / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: good fortune
Carving workshops line the approach to Zuisenji. The temple came first; the carving became an industry afterwards.
Takaoka Sekino Jinja(Takaoka)Shinto shrine / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: business prosperity
The shrine of the Takaoka Mikurumayama festival, which is UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Hie Jinja (Toyama)(Toyama)Shinto shrine / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
The tutelary shrine of Toyama, known for the Sanno festival.
Murodo(Tateyama)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: rebirth and renewal, mountain worship
The sulphurous valley was read as hell, the distant ranges as paradise. The landscape itself was the doctrine.
Senkoji(Tonami)Buddhist temple / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Held to be the oldest temple in Etchu, looking down on the scattered village.
Kozenji(Himi)Buddhist temple / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Known as the temple where the manga artist Fujiko Fujio A was born.
Hanyu Gokoku Hachimangu(Oyabe)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: victory
The shrine where Kiso Yoshinaka prayed before the battle of Kurikara.
Oyama Jinja(Tateyama)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Etchu Province / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: mountain worship
At the 3,003-metre summit of Tateyama, one of the three sacred mountains of Japan.
Zuisenji(Nanto)Buddhist temple / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
Carving workshops line the street before its gate. Inami carving grew out of the rebuilding of this temple.
Zentokuji(Nanto)Buddhist temple / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
The stage of the Hikiyama and Mugiya festivals. Johana prospered as its gate town.
Imizu Jinja(Takaoka)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Etchu Province / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: good harvests
It stands within Takaoka Kojo Park.
Kurehayama(Toyama)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: mountain worship
A hill with the whole Tateyama range in view. It has long marked the divide between east and west of the prefecture.
Iwase Suwa Jinja(Toyama)Shinto shrine / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: safe voyages, business prosperity
The tutelary shrine of a port town enriched by the kitamaebune, known for its float festival.
Jigokudani(Tateyama)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
Sulphurous steam rises from the ground. In Tateyama belief this was taken to be an actual hell.
Jonichiji(Himi)Buddhist temple / Natural Monument / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: long life
A great ginkgo more than a thousand years old stands here.
Maibotsurin(Uozu)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Special Natural Monument / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
Cedar roots from about two thousand years ago remain beneath the sea.
Hakusangu(Nanto)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Gosei (western Toyama) / Blessings: mountain worship
The oldest wooden building in Toyama, where the kokiriko dance is preserved.
Sightseeing
Ainokura and Suganuma and Gokayama is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Breakdown: historic townscape 6, nature / scenery 3, industrial heritage 5, festival / event 2. 16 places to see in Toyama.
Yui(Nanto)festival / event / Gosei (western Toyama)
Rethatching a roof is done by the whole village together, a system of mutual aid. Faith and daily life run continuously into each other.
Ainokura(Nanto)historic townscape / Gosei (western Toyama) / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / UNESCO World Heritage
A village of gassho-zukuri houses. Silkworms were raised under the roofs.
Suganuma(Nanto)historic townscape / Gosei (western Toyama) / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / UNESCO World Heritage
A small village where nine gassho-zukuri houses survive.
Karashima(Himi)nature / scenery / Gosei (western Toyama)
An island afloat in the sea off Himi. The faith of a town that fishes with set nets.
Aimotobashi(Kurobe)industrial heritage / Goto (eastern Toyama)
A cantilever bridge that once spanned the Kurobe river, with a legend of a princess and a great serpent.
Nunobashi Kanjoe(Tateyama)industrial heritage / Goto (eastern Toyama) / Edo period
A rite in which women crossed a cloth bridge blindfolded, in place of the climb they were barred from. Salvation without the ascent.
Uozu Shinkiro(Uozu)industrial heritage / Goto (eastern Toyama)
A coast where mirages appear. With the buried forest, it was long an object of awe.
Kurobe Dam(Tateyama)industrial heritage / Goto (eastern Toyama) / 1963
At 186 metres, the tallest in Japan. It took seven years to build, and 171 people died.
Yuki no Otani(Tateyama)nature / scenery / Goto (eastern Toyama)
You walk between walls of snow 20 metres high, cut open by the ploughs.
Gokayama(Nanto)historic townscape / Gosei (western Toyama) / Preservation District for Traditional Buildings / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / UNESCO World Heritage
Villages of gassho-zukuri houses. Under the roofs they raised silkworms and made saltpetre.
Kurobe Gorge Railway(Kurobe)industrial heritage / Goto (eastern Toyama) / 1937
A line built to carry materials for the dam, later opened to passengers.
Amaharashi Coast(Takaoka)nature / scenery / Gosei (western Toyama)
Across the water, the 3,000-metre peaks of the Tateyama range stand in a row.
Owara Kaze no Bon(Toyama)festival / event / Goto (eastern Toyama)
For three days and nights the hill town dances in silence. The kokyu fiddle carries through the streets.
Himi Morning Market(Himi)historic townscape / Gosei (western Toyama)
Winter yellowtail taken in set nets. What comes in at dawn is on the counter that day.
Sankyoson(Tonami)historic townscape / Gosei (western Toyama)
Houses ringed by windbreak groves, scattered across the paddies. A way of living apart.
Inami(Nanto)historic townscape / Gosei (western Toyama)
Carving became an industry through the rebuilding of Zuisenji. Workshops stand eave to eave.
Traditional Crafts
Six crafts hold national designation: Takaoka copperware, Takaoka lacquerware, Inami carving, Shogawa turned woodwork, Etchu washi, and Etchu-Fukuoka sedge hats.
Takaoka accounts for about 90 percent of copperware made in Japan. Temple bells, park statues, Buddhist altar fittings: most of the cast copper you come across leaves this town.
More: VILLAGE Journal vol.32 — Nine in ten copper vessels, from this town（リンク先は現在公開されていません）
More from This Prefecture
See all Toyama articles ← All 47 prefectures
Sources: Toyama Prefecture, City of Takaoka, City of Nanto, Tateyama Town, Oyama Jinja, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of the Environment, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village editorial team