Takayama Jinya

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About Takayama Jinya

Takayama Jinya was the Tokugawa shogunate’s regional government office for the Hida area, which came under direct Edo control from 1692 because of the timber and minerals in the mountains. It operated until the end of the Edo period and was later used by provincial government offices. It is the only jinya, as these regional offices were called, whose main buildings have survived into the 21st century.

The complex includes the entrance gate, tatami audience and reception rooms, officials’ offices, kitchens, the administrator’s quarters, and a garden. There is also an interrogation room, with the instruments used in trials of the period. The rooms show the hierarchy: the more important the person, the closer to the garden and the more ornate the room.

The rice storehouse, a long 17th-century wooden building, stored rice paid as tax by the farmers. Today it houses an exhibition on regional administration, with documents, maps and objects.

Every morning a Jinya morning market operates in the square in front, with stalls selling vegetables, pickles and crafts. The Sanmachi old town is a few minutes’ walk across the river. The buildings underwent restorations during the 20th century that recovered the Edo-period layout using documents and drawings preserved by the administration itself.