Hida Furukawa and its canals full of Koi

 

Hida Furukawa is a small town just 20 minutes north of Takayama by Japan Rail (JR)'s local train.  Hida Furukawa, like Hida Takayama, is situated along the Miya River and  are often referred to as “twins,” and both preserve the atmosphere of the Edo Period. However, it is not as well known and touristy as Takayama.

It featured a beautiful section of the old town with colourful carps swimming in the canals along the street. As a Koi enthusiast, this is something I must see since I am in the vicinity. From Takayama, I planned a short trip to Hida Furukawa taking the relatively frequent train into the Hida Furukawa train station. We arrived shortly after 1 PM. Leaving the small Hida Furukawa train station, we found the town practically deserted in the afternoon.

Hida Furukawa Train Station and the deserted streets.

We mae our way to the famed canals which was not far away.  Bingo! There were indeed large Koi swimming in the clear and flowing waters of the canal. We also saw a few residents. Mostly elderly folks, with the younger folks mostly working somewhere outside of town.

The Koi were mostly chagoi and ogons. For me, it was quite disappointing not to see varieties like the sanke, showa, kohaku and other nicer varieties since Japan is the originator of fancy Koi varieties.

There were a few stations with vending machines where we can buy Koi food from.

One of the house had placed a container filled with bread for visitors to feed the Koi with. I feed the Koi with those instead.

The Koi were not very eager with the bread. They must be quite well fed.

One end of the canal lead from the river. It ran across the entire town to the other end where there were temples and shops.

Koi was introduced into these canals as part of the initiative to maintain a clean canals within the town. It worked. Koi needed fairly clean water to thrive and these canals, with water fed continuously from the nearby river, needed no artificial filtration to remove fish waste.  Just pump water in from the river, put up some metal gratins to keep the Koi from escaping into the river and a natural balanced eco-system is created and maintained. Only possible in Japan.

 

The Koi all swam in a line, naturally against the current, much like the Koinobori I saw at the Miyagawa Morning Market in Takayama.

We went pass the Enkoji temple on one side and storehouses with white earth and mortar on the other side of the canals. There we saw a mother with a kid, enjoying the canal walk like us.

The other end of the canal with the shopping area and temples.

We came to the end of the canals and what seems to be the shopping area in Furukawa.

Besides the canals with Koi, Furukawa has also an old town with the look and free like Takayama but without the tourist crowds in the afternoon.

We decided to take the 3 PM train back to Takayama and did not explored Furukawa further. Furukawa also offered an interesting guided cycling tour by Satoyama Experience. My original plan was to do a half day cycling tour with them but decided to skip this.

Overall Hida Furukawa was worth a half day excursion from Takayama just to see the big and thriving Koi in the canals. Or to join a cycling tour for those who have not experienced the rural Japanese countryside with the beautiful rice paddies, mountains, villages and nice local folks.

Hida Takayama and its Miyagawa River where Koi swim free

Hida Takayama is a city in the mountainous Hida region in Central Japan that is easily accessible from Nagoya or even Kyoto by train. The city has many attractions such as its beautifully preserved old town, morning markets, Hida Folk Village, preserved buildings and its festivals during spring and autumn. I travelled to Takayama the evening before, by bus from Kanazawa via Shirakawago and had planned to use Takayama as a base to explore the surrounding area.

There were two morning markets in Takayama and these were worth seeing while visiting Takayama.   While I was on my way to the Jinya Morning Market, I had to cross the red coloured Nakabashi Bridge over the Miyagawa River. Something red caught my eye in the waters below.

I could not believe my eyes that such a beautiful sanke would be swimming free and wild in the river below. I quickly scan the water for more and I saw a few other koi in the river.  The river was also supporting other wildlife like a heron that was hunting on the rocks. The water quality in the river must be good to support such big fishes. 

From the Jinya Mae morning market, I walked along the streets of Takayama towards the other morning market, located  on a road along the Miyagawa River and aptly called the Miyagawa Morning Market. Miyagawa Market was busier and has more stalls than the Jinya Market.

May is the month where Children’s Day is celebrated. Giant Koi-nobori or carp streamers were swaying over the Miyagawa River. In Japanese culture, the carp symbolizes courage and strength because of its ability to swim against the current and up a waterfall. In the old days, it was celebrated as the Boys' Festival, and one streamer was hung for every boy in the family, expressing hope that each boy in the family will grow up healthy and strong like wild carps. Now, it is changed to Children’s Day which includes also daughters.

Beneath the carp streamers were more real life wild carps, playing and feeding in the river.

Koi and carps were living well in the river. Some tourist were feeding them with food bought from an enterprising stall.

I think the Koi would have survived without the handouts from the tourists. The ecosystem in the river would have been clean, balanced and good to sustain these fishes and other wildlife. Awesome!

One last note. If you happen to visit Takayama, don’t just appreciate the Koi and other attractions. You must eat the mouth watering Hida Beef. And time permitting, do a side trip to Hida Furukawa, a sister town near Hida Takayama with even more Koi!

You may enjoy reading about my visit to Takayama in this blog.

Koi ponds along the Nakasendo Trail

I had the privilege of visiting Central Japan in late spring this year, travelling through the post-towns and villages along the Nakasendo Trail, crossing the Japanese Alps and visiting cities like Matsumoto, Kanazawa, Takayama, Hiroshima, Mijyajima and Kyoto. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to visit Niigata, home of the nishikigoi. Nevertheless, I had the chance to see many Koi ponds during my journey. I would share some of the interesting places with Koi in the next few posts, starting with the Koi ponds I saw along the Nakasendo Way.

Firstly, a quick introduction to the Nakasendo Trail. The Nakasendo Trail or Nakasendo Way is an ancient 533km trail established in the Edo period (1603 to 1868) that connected Edo (now Tokyo) to Kyoto, the imperial capital. During those times, travellers would rest each night at juku or post towns. Today it is still possible to walk part of the route and stay in small local minshuku (guest houses) or ryokans. In particular, my journey involves only about 35km of walking plus a few bus and train transfers between the Kiso Valley towns of Magome, Tsumago and Narai. 

My journey along the Naksendo started at Magome, one of the beautifully restored and preserved Edo-era post-towns. Getting to Magome involved taking a train from Nagoya International Airport (where I landed) to Nakatsugawa (which incidentally is also a post-town along the Nakasendo but not as well preserved as Magome), and then transferring to a local bus to Magome. The journey took about 2 hours and transported me from modern Japan to rural Japan.

My first glimpse of rural Japan when I stepped off the bus at Magome was this view. The rice planting season has started. Magome is just 50m away and uphill from where I alighted.  The main street of Magome is paved with cobblestone and is lined with old, lattice-windowed residential houses, museums, tea houses, and souvenir shops on both sides. It made one feels like being transported back in time, to the Edo period hundreds of years ago.

There were a couple of ponds and water features along the main street but I particularly like the small pond located near the other end of the town. The naturally set pond is surrounded by spring flowers. As the pond is small, it contains only a few metallic ogons.

From Magome, we walked around 8 km (about 3 to 4 hours at a leisurely pace) over the Magome Pass to Tsumago. This trail is one of the best trails along the old Nakasendo. We got to see a Japan that is very different from what the usual visitors got to see in Japan.

A preserved section of the old Nakasendo Trail between Magome and Tsumago.

Rice paddies just outside of Tsumago.

Tsumago is very different from Magome in that it has a more rustic and rugged feel. I managed to book my stay at the Fujioto Ryokan in Tsumago and this is an excellent place to stay while visiting Tsumago. The bonus is that this ryokan has a beautiful front garden with a large and impressive Koi pond that I got to enjoy during my stay.

Front entrance of the Fujioto Ryokan. The garden is located on the left side. 

This pond has an informal layout that blended into the overall garden with numerous large rocks and a stone bridge across the large pond. The pond is aerated by a small waterfall. It was interesting to see the fishes jousting for positions beneath the waterfall.

There is a second pond in the middle courtyard, next to the dining hall. This pond is full of colourful comet goldfishes instead of koi. I spend some time relaxing by this pond after dinner.

About 2 km north of Tsumago is another post town called Nagiso. As we arrived early at Tsumago, we decided to walk this section of the Nakasendo Trail on the same day. We took a taxi to Nagiso and then taking about 1 hour to walk from Nagiso back to Tsumago. The trail between Nagiso and Tsumago passes through bamboo forest and also residential area between the two towns.  Most Japanese houses have some sort of water feature outside their main entrance. More lavish ones would have Koi ponds. In this part of the world, there is low crime or no crime and everyone seems to know everyone in the town. There is no fencing between houses and travellers along the trail could walk to the edge of the ponds to admire the Koi and the garden without restrictions.

One such pond features a large water wheel, quite a common sight in these rural towns. The water is crystal clear as can be seen in these pictures. Unfortunately, the fish are mostly chagoi and none of the nicer varieties were seen.

After going through a small bamboo forest, we came to another hamlet where more Koi ponds could be seen along the trail.

Travellers on the Nakasendo Trail can stand up close and admire the ponds while taking a breather.

After an overnight stay at the fabulous Fujioto Ryokan in Tsumago, we took the train to Narai, another of the post town further down the Nakasendo Trail.

Narai is another nice preserved post-town. There are no modern buildings and the look and feel is almost like Tsumago. One feature of the houses in Narai is that the second floor roof is longer and overhangs the first. These eaves extend further to overhang the entire building and protect the interior from rain. The same design and practice of using stones to hold down the metal roof sheets can be also seen on some buildings.

Using Narai as our base, we walked to Yabuhara and then took a train back to Narai. This stretch of the Nakasendo is about 6.2 km and includes crossing the Torii-Touge Pass which is one of the more difficult trails for travellers. We stayed overnight at the Iseya Ryokan in Narai. Iseya Ryokan is located centrally within Narai and is a good place to stay while walking the Nakasendo. After the exertion of crossing the Torii Touge Pass, a hot bath followed by Kaiseki dinner is heavenly.

Iseya Ryokan also boasts of a nice garden and Koi pond in its courtyard.

Beautiful garden and koi pond at the Iseya Ryokan in Narai, a post-town along the Nakasendo Trail.

I really like the informal layout of the pond, with overhanging low pines, well sculptured trees, stone lanterns and rocks on the edges. A purple maple tree adds accent.

Unlike the ponds I saw earlier, the pond at Iseya has much nicer nishikigoi.

Narai was the last town that we visited along the Nakasendo Trail. From there we continue our journey by train to Matsumoto, Kanazawa and Takayama.

I will share the interesting Koi fishes I spotted in Takayama in my next post.

You may enjoy reading about my travels along the Nakasendo Trail in this blog.

Koi inspired design

 

I was on a short vacation to Macau and wandering around within the shopping mall of the Venetian Macao when I saw this on a shop window.

This shop specialises in suitcases. On its own, most will not link the vibrant colours on the suitcase to the “living jewels”. There are croc-skin handbags/suitcases, snake-skin handbags/suitcases and what about having a fish-skin handbag/suitcase. I had seen a TV documentary that people actually made clothes out of dried fish skin. Imagine what you can do with a expensive champion Koi who passes on. LOL.

This suitcase is not made of fish skin. Just nice paintwork.

A few weeks later, back home in Singapore. I chanced upon the similar display in a similar shop at Millenia Walk. So, Koi-inspired design seems to be the flavour of the month.

Plants for Koi Pond– Thalia Geniculata

 

I have always wanted to get this plant for my Koi pond but somehow could not find it for sale in the nurseries in my neighbourhood. I saw this plant at the biodiversity pond in a local education institution, Raffles Junior College. This plant is also known as the Alligator Flag – “derived from the fact that the plant can be used to alert one to the presence of an alligator as it swims past this aquatic plant and rustle the leaves.”  - so says the sign posted at the biodiversity pond.

This is quite a tall plant, with broad leaves like those of the heliconia and purple flowers hanging down like mini-bells from a curved stalk. This would be a good plant to grow in pots by the edge of a large pond. Being tall, it can form the backdrop of a pond and provide some shade for the Koi.

Thalia Geniculata at biodiversity pond in Raffles Junior College

A few weeks later, I chance upon this plant again when I visited a friend who had them growing out of a large water filled earthen pot in his roof garden.  He told me he bought them from a local nursery. So it is available locally but have to know where to look!

I will consider getting this plant for a water garden or Koi pond, when grown in pots around the pond’s edge. It can even be displayed as a specimen plant in the middle of a large pond.