Yatai Kaikan (museum of the Takayama Festival floats)

The Takayama Festival (Takayama Matsuri) is considered one of the three most spectacular festivals in all of Japan, alongside the Gion festival in Kyoto and the Chichibu Yomatsuri. It is held twice a year: in April (Sanno Matsuri) and in October (Hachiman Matsuri), and its centrepiece are the yatai, procession floats of up to six metres tall built with hinoki cypress wood and decorated with lacquer, embroidery, gold leaf and mechanical puppets (karakuri ningyo) that dance and perform acrobatics. The Yatai Kaikan is the museum where four of the eleven historic floats are preserved and displayed in rotation. The exhibition also includes the bearers' costumes, musical instruments and videos of the festivals. Admission costs 1.000 ¥ for adults (500 ¥ for children). Hours: 9:00-17:00 all year round. It is inside the Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine, a ten-minute walk from Sanmachi-suji. If you visit Takayama during the festival, the floats come out into the streets and the spectacle is unrepeatable.