Keta Wakamiya Shrine

Reaching the shrine

The shrine's address is 1297 Kamiketa, Furukawa-cho, Hida. Hida City's tourism site lists it at about 14 minutes on foot from Hida-Furukawa Station, and for drivers it notes a parking space right beside the torii gate. From the Hida-Furukawa Sakura Bussankan, a local products shop on the same walking course, the course lists about 4 minutes by car.

The stairs to the precinct

The tourism site's anniversary course says the stairs leading up to the precinct are the place that served as the model for the sequence in which the protagonist asks local people questions. It encourages visitors to climb them and then pay respects at the shrine, and to take in the history and culture of Furukawa as well as the film's scenery.

How the Furukawa Festival works

The shrine's annual festival is held on April 19 and 20. Hida City's tourism site says that the Furukawa Festival's Okoshi Daiko drum event and float procession are designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and are also inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

On the night of April 19, men dressed in sarashi (plain cotton wraps) walk through the town with a tower carrying a large drum while young men called tsuke-daiko challenge the tower. The floats are pulled through the town, with mechanical puppet performances and children's kabuki. Per the tourism site, the float procession is canceled in the rain, while Okoshi Daiko goes ahead.

Learning about the festival year-round

Furukawa Festival Museum, about 5 minutes on foot from the station, shows the festival in 4K video and keeps 3 of the 9 floats on display. Its tourism-site listing gives roughly 700 yen for adults and about 300 yen for children and hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from March to November; check the operator's page before you go.