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Travel Guide
Hotels / Ryokan and Places to Stay
Top Things to do
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- Bitchu Matsuyama Castle
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![Bitchu Matsuyama Castle]()
- Okayama Pref. Takahashishi Uchisange 1
- Bitchu Matsuyama Castle stands at the highest elevation above sea level in Japan at 430 meters as a castle which has a surviving keep. The castle was originally built on Omatsuyama by an Ukan town feudal lord, Akiba Shigenobu during the Kamakura period It was restored by Mizunoya Katsumune in 1683 and retains that castle keep appearance to this day. You can see the vestiges of a castle that was called impregnable, a solid wall of rock rising up to the mountain top. It is also famous as you can observe the apparition of a sea of clouds floating by in the early morning from the end of September to early April. Bitchu Matsuyama Castle was used in the opening shot of the “Taiga” (a long running historical drama on NHK) drama series called “Sanada Maru”.
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- Cave Ikura
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![Cave Ikura]()
- Okayama Pref. Nimishi Ikura 409
- A limestone cave 1,200 meters long and with a total elevation difference of 90 meters located in scenic Ikura Gorge in Ikura, Niimi City, Okayama Prefecture. The entrance to the cave is on a 240 meter tall limestone precipice. The cave was formed by rainwater erosion and features such as a 50 meter tall waterfall and icicle-like stalactites give the cavernous spaces within it a mystical quality. Visitors can view some 30 rare and unusually shaped stones and rock formations that are both strange and beautiful, such as the “Silver Screen,” “Water Clothing,” and “Jellyfish Stone.” Arisa no Miya, a shrine dedicated to a woman who suffered unrequited love and who is now revered as a goddess granting worshipers luck in love and marriage, stands at the cave’s exit.
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- Maki-do Cave
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![Maki-do Cave]()
- Okayama Pref. Nimishi Toyonagakouma 2276-2
- A limestone cave on a karst plateau in Niimi City, Okayama Prefecture designated a Natural Monument by Okayama Prefecture. Said to have been found by a hunter in the Edo period, the cave’s name, meaning “full of mysteries,” is derived from a poem written by married poets Tekkan and Akiko Yosano in 1929. The cave is around 450 meters long in total and 25 meters wide at its widest point, and its graceful spaces are filled with sights to see, including one of Japan’s best examples of a rimstone terrace formation; an underground lake named the “Palace of Dreams;” and countless soda straws, stalactites, and stalagmites.
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- Former Katayama Residence
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![Former Katayama Residence]()
- Okayama Pref. Takahashishi Nariwachoufukiya
- This is the mansion of Katayama family who gained wealth from the manufacture and sales of red iron oxide. In the red iron oxide warehouse, there are manikins recreating the production of iron oxide which is interesting. In 2006, it was designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
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- Fujimori Shokudo
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- Okayama Pref. Takahashishi Nariwachoufukiya 380
- Fujimori Shokudo is a restaurant located near the Fukiya Furusato local history museum in Fukiya, Nariwa Town, Takahashi City. The restaurant serves local cuisine made using seasonal ingredients sourced locally. With a menu featuring Sansai Okowa (glutinous rice cooked with edible wild plants) made using seasonal wild plants, Inaka Soba (country-style Soba buckwheat noodles) and Inaka Udon (country-style Udon noodles), etc., Fujimori Shokudo has enjoyed considerable local popularity for many years.
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- Bengara-ya
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![Bengara-ya]()
- Okayama Pref. Takahashishi Nariwachoufukiya 693
- Located in Fukiya, Nariwa Town, Takahashi City, Bengara-ya is a shop selling items that make use of the “bengara” red ochre pigment that is one of the region’s local specialty products. These items include fashion accessories and ornaments made with bengara, as well as bengara-glaze ceramics, etc. The shop itself is situated in a historic old house which is bengara-colored.
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- Fukiya Furusato Village
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- Okayama Pref. Takahashishi Nariwachoufukiya 838-2
- This Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings is located in the Nariwacho Fukiya area of Takahashi City. A town that flourished from copper mining and the production of red iron oxide (red pigment) during the Edo period (1603–1868), it preserves the townscape lined with the rouge-colored machiya (wooden townhouses) of wealthy merchants together with red copper roof tiles.
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- Bicchu Matsuyama Castle sea of clouds Observatory
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- Okamaya cho, Takahashi-shi, Okayama-ken
- This observatory is located in the Okumanda-cho area of Takahashi City. Known as a popular place for seeing a sea of clouds, it is also called the Sea of Clouds Observatory. The clouds occur from late September to early April from dawn to 8 a.m. in the morning (depending on conditions such as weather), and you can see the fantastic sight of Bizen Matsuyama Castle floating in the sea of clouds.
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- Niimi Museum of Art
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![Niimi Museum of Art]()
- Okayama Pref. Nimishi Nishigata 361
- This art museum is located in Nishigata, Niimi City. Centered on about 80 pieces by the literary painter Tomioka Tessai, It holds approximately 1,100 works of art such as modern Japanese paintings, Western paintings and crafts by artists in connection with their hometown. You can interact with the natural of Niimi throughout the four seasons through the garden in the museum and the view from the cafe.
