Starting the morning off in Kanazawa, we ate breakfast at the hotel lobby then checked out and stored our luggage inside Kanazawa Station. Then we met up with Anny-san, who was our tour guide for the morning. Anny-san took us on the local buses towards Myoryuji Temple, where she had helped us make reservations for a tour at 10:00am.

A little background information on Myoryuji. While it may look like a regular temple from the outside, it was in fact used as a military outpost to guard against attacks on the city. Not only did they build a labyrinth of corridors, secret rooms and trap doors which allowed defenders to guard against intruders, there were also hidden tunnels and escape routes that allowed them to alert the castle of impending attacks. The temple may appear to be only two stories high from the outside, but it actually had four floors. This was kept hidden from the Shogunate since it was prohibited in the Edo period to construct buildings over three stories. With so much secrecy in its construction, it’s no wonder that Myoryuji was nicknamed Ninjadera, even though it had no direct relations to ninjas.

Once we got to Myoryuji, we were led inside for a quick audio presentation in Japanese. There are no tours offered in English and the staff are quite strict against having family/friends translating during the tour in order to avoid disrupting the group. However I was quite surprised they offered an information booklet in English complete with pictures and explanations. It probably wasn’t as comprehensive as the description in Japanese, but it was enough to understand and appreciate the construction of the building. The tour itself lasted about 40 minutes. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but I was thoroughly fascinated by all the contraptions we saw while we were on the tour. I think it was my favourite spot in Kanazawa.

After we left Myoryuji we took the bus towards Omicho for lunch. We had a bit of time to browse through the market. There were a ton of stalls selling fresh seafood, fruits and vegetables. It must be great for those who live close to the area. For lunch my sis had scoped out this restaurant called Yama-san in advance. I was looking forward to trying their kaisen don. For 2,500 yen, the kaisen don did not disappoint. It not only looked good but it was equally as delicious.

We took the bus back to Kanazawa Station afterwards then said goodbye to Anny-san. Since we still had a bit of time before catching our bus to Takayama, my sis and I decided to do some shopping inside the Forus department store. It was too bad that we only had about 30 minutes inside, but I’m glad I came out with a couple purchases. =)

After picking up our luggage and bus tickets we were off to Takayama. Once again it was blizzarding on the highway. The bus made a pit stop at Shirakawago and it was completely blanketed in a layer of snow. But because it was still snowing, you could barely make out the village from the visitor’s centre. I’m so glad we went earlier!

Once we arrived in Takayama, we left the bus terminal on foot and walked for about 10 minutes before we reached our ryokan, Tanabe. My sis had pretty much done all the research for our trip and I was so glad she picked this ryokan. Tanabe is by far one of the nicest ryokans I’ve stayed at. The interior was gorgeous and our rooms were spacious. I was even given a choice to pick the colour of my yukata. =P

Once we got to our room we drank some hot tea and rested for a bit. Since it was just before 5pm we decided to head out again to see if we could make it to Sanmachi before all the shops closed. Sanmachi is a heritage site, so the streets are very similar to Gion and Higashi Chaya. We didn’t stay out for too long since it was already dark out. After browsing inside some shops and trying some aka miso shiru and 白酒 we went back to Tanabe.

Dinner was being served at 6pm. While I’ve had my share of meals at ryokans, Tanabe was by far the most exquisite dinner I’ve ever had. I think I lost count of the number of dishes I was given after I counted past 10. It was super extravagant! After dinner the ladies cleared our table for us then set up our futons. My sis and I decided to venture to the onsen inside Tanabe. While it wasn’t very big, they did have an outdoor onsen so that was quite nice. Afterwards we went back to our room and turned on the television to watch Music Station before calling it a night. =)