In Hokuriku is Niigata, the premier port city along the northern reaches of the Japan Sea. Opened to foreign trade in 1869 and laced with canals and intersecting railway lines, it's the transportation hub for coastal and northward travel throughout the region. The villages in the hills surrounding Niigata are quiet and insulated like those in nearby undeveloped Tohoku. Offshore is Sado-ga-shima, a remote island used for the exile of powerful lords and known for its hauntingly beautiful folk ballads. At the east and west base of the wild Noto Hanto peninsula, which pokes like a gnarled finger into the frothy Japan Sea, are the two historical cities of Toyama and Kanazawa. Toyama pursued the science of medicine, and its secret home remedies spread throughout the empire and later to China, Korea, and Southeast Asia. 

Even today, its potent folk remedies are available at centuries-old apothecaries throughout the city. Kanazawa, under the Maeda clan, advanced the performing arts and lured many scholars to take up residence, earning the title of "Library of the Nation." By this peaceful tactic, the Maedas preserved their ancestral lands when more ambitious and militaristic daimyo were scattered like rice hulls under the ever watchful Tokugawa Shogunate. Today, artistic traditions include Noh and comic recitals performed by talented townsfolk. Preserved samurai residences dot the narrow streets, and Kenroku-en, one of Japan's most famous gardens, is the nucleus of an easy and rewarding walking tour.

Sandwiched between Hokuriku and Tokai are the Central Highlands, where the whitecapped Japan Alps loom into the clear cobalt sky as they slice southward from northern Honshu. Gifu in the southwest has been know for its ukai (cormorant fishing) for 1,200 years. Deep in this prefecture is Takayama, a town dedicated to museums and the preservation of ancient folkways. Yamanashi-ken Prefecture, in the southwest highlands, is slashed by the Fuji Volcanic Chain. Close by, Nagano, the hilly capital of Nagano-ken Prefecture, is the gateway to Matsumoto and Kamikochi, trekking towns deep in the Japan Alps.

The Tokai region includes glimmering Fuji Five Lakes on the border of Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. Here stately Mount Fuji shadows Tokyo and the fertile Kanto Heiya plain. (See "Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park"). Nagoya, in Aichi-ken Prefecture, Japan's fourth-largest city, is an industrial giant known for its massive weaving mills. Despite this, the back streets of the Arimatsu section support the fascinating cottage industry of shibori (tie-dyed cloth).

The Land and Climate
Chubu is endless mountains and fathomless gorges, especially in the Central Highlands. The Japan Alps are actually a combination of the Akashi, Kiso, and Hida ranges, all of which have stiletto peaks that stab 3,000 meters or higher into the fat bellies of snow-gorged clouds. The Kanto Range and the more northerly Mikuni Range, along the eastern border between Chubu and the Kanto district, are slightly less massive, with the average peak at 1,700 meters. In the southeast is the stately colossus of Mount Fuji at 3,776 meters, as well as attendant fuming volcanoes of the Fuji Volcanic Chain.

The interior plains are small, alluvial fans in the valleys between the mountains. The largest is the Ina Basin in the eastern foothills of the Kiso Range. The Nobi Heiya plain surrounding Nagoya is the largest in the Tokai region. At one time it produced rich harvests of tea and rice, but today skyscrapers, highways, and transmitting towers are its dubious bounty. In Hokuriku on the Japan Sea, the Fukui, Kanazawa, Toyama, and Niigata plains are the largest, still producing quality rice harvests.

Numerous foaming rivers cascade from the Central Highlands. The Tenryu-gawa and Kiso-gawa empty into the Pacific while the Shinano-gawa, at 370 km the longest river in Japan, drains the Niigata basin on the Japan Sea. Combined, these rivers produce a hefty amount of the hydroelectric power needed to fuel Japan's industrial furnace.

The Climate
Chubu's climate varies considerably due to the fact that this enormous district stretches from the Japan Sea to the Pacific, with weather-buffeting mountains in between. The Hokuriku region has deep snowy winters with accumulations of up to three meters, piled high by winter typhoons sweeping out the Japan Sea. The summers are humid, with spring and autumn offering by far the best weather.

The Central Highlands are frigid in winter, with many peaks snowbound even during the summer months. Bring mountaineering clothing whenever you visit; here altitude is the determining factor. The valleys have a varying climate, much warmer and sunnier than the surrounding peaks. Summers in the lowlands can be hot and sticky.

Along Tokai's coast the weather is mild. The winters are clear and bright, but autumn brings the annual typhoon season, and summer can be sticky, especially during the early rains.

History
Japanese have wandered through Chubu for many centuries on the Tokaido, the ancient highway leading from Tokyo to Kyoto. White-clad pilgrims (men only until the Meiji Era) have stopped to contemplate or climb the holy beacon of Mount Fuji on their way to the Grand Shrines of Ise farther south. Artists have immortalized the meandering Tokaido in poetry and paintings that provide glimpses of life during the ancient days. The way stations along the route soon developed into stagecoach towns knows as shukuba machi, many of which have survived to the present day. Victorious feudal armies, vanquished samurai, merchants, and humble farmers have all trudged through Chubu on the Tokaido.

But well before this ancient path felt its first footstep, prehistoric farmers and gatherers lived in this fertile region. Ancient mounds excavated near Shizuoka have revealed villages from the Yayoi period that were well advanced in their methods of rice cultivation. Around Nagano, in the heart of Chubu, Jomon-period remains were discovered at the foothills of the Yatsugatake Mountains. Here, a pyramid rock (togari-ishi) still bears the scars of stone tools that were honed on its ironlike surface. Today, the Shinkansen streaks along the Tokaido.

The Hokurikudo, another timeworn trail, wound from Nagoya through the Central Highlands to Niigata and then northward to Tohoku. The newest in ceramics, weaving, manufacturing, intellectual concepts, and changing customs were all, in one way or another, trundled along this course. In Komatsu, not far from Kanazawa, is the Ataka Barrier, a checking station built atop a sand dune at the mouth of the Kakehashi-gawa River. Constructed by the Minamoto Shogunate, it served as a controlled passageway for all travelers wishing to journey from Kyoto to northern Honshu.

Magnificent castles still dot Chubu, attesting to its strategic importance. In Matsumoto, Karasu- jo ("Black Crow Castle") still scowls at passersby in the center of the city. Nagoya-jo Castle, the showcase of the Tokugawa Shogunate, was inhabited for almost 300 years and destroyed only in WW II when it succumbed to aerial bombardment. Maruoka-jo, built in Fukui-ken Prefecture in 1576, is surrounded by a moat almost 90 meters wide and has long been admired as a "floating castle."

After the Meiji Era, Chubu leapt into modernity along with the rest of Japan. During WW II, the industrial complexes of Tokai were obliterated. Nagoya was flattened, then rebuilt. The prewar twisting streets and alleyways were straightened, and the city followed a grid plan that almost keeps abreast of this era's phenomenal growth. The interior mountain villages remain virtually untouched, while the people on the coast of the Japan Sea still earn their living through agriculture.

Arts and Crafts

Weaving And Dyeing
Shibori (white-spotted) is a unique tie-dye method of cloth manufacture and an integral part of kimono craft dating from 1607. The center for this craft is now in Arimatsu, formerly a village but now a suburb of Nagoya. Mostly women, but sometimes men, tie tiny knots on the base cloth that they dip into boiling vats of dye to produce intricate, rich patterns of grasses and flowers. A finely crafted piece takes over 300 hours to produce, and the price matches the effort. Most artists work out of their homes, but the process can be seen at Arimatsu Shibori Industrial Cooperative, in the Arimatsu section of Nagoya.

Another famous kimono craft is Kaga yuzen, gaily printed silk, often in a flower motif, produced in Kanazawa. The raw silk is painted in bold bright strokes by masters using age-old techniques. Each petal is offset by a fine white outline, making the general appearance even more striking. Craftspeople used to wash their cloth in the clear waters of the Sai-gawa River. This still happens, but only on rare occasions. Iga kumihimo, braided silk cord used to fasten kimonos is made not far from Nagoya. This craft is believed to have originated in China about 1000 B.C.

Pottery
The collective name for the ceramics produced around Nagoya is Seto-yaki, an art that dates back to the Edo period. Kilns that at one time produced delicate tea-ceremony sets now produce industrial pottery. One village is even called Dokan-machi or "Sewer Pipe Town." Fortunately, a small but thriving number of traditional kilns still produce handmade and artistically conceived ware. The clay of Seto-yaki is fine-grained and excellent for producing pots. Three types, well-known for their craftsmanship, are: ki-Seto (yellow seto), with a faint yellow glaze highlighted with greens and browns; gin-yuteki, a splash of silver speckles on dark underglazes; and ofuke, blue-tinged, blurred glazes on a heavy underglaze.

Kanazawa also has a long tradition of ceramics and is especially famous for its exquisite ko-Kutani pottery. It is a long-held tradition that a samurai by the name of Goto was sent to Kyushu to learn this craft. On his return to Kanazawa, he was supported by the Maeda clan and taught others about his newfound techniques. Today, Kutani-ware is still a thriving industry and highly prized by collectors. For another distinctive pottery produced in Chubu, see "Sado-ga-shima.

Potpourri
At the western base of the Noto Hanto peninsula is Kanazawa, long dedicated to art. The city has a famous theater where Noh classics are performed. Local artists called hanashi-ka participate in these productions as well as in traditional comic monologues known as rakugo. These monologues follow the oral tradition, with the plots drawn from daily events. A fan is the only prop, metamorphosing into a pipe, sword, tea tray, etc., as the story dictates. The tales can be bawdy and usually have surprise endings.

Nearby in Komatsu are Bunya-Joruri, puppet plays featuring epic ballads and dance that go back over 300 years (see "Chubu Festivals and Events," following).

Nagoya craft stores come alive with mechanical dolls painstakingly fashioned from bamboo and wood. Each doll has its own repertoire of moves that includes intricate dance steps and even the removal of clothing.

Magnificent Owari cloisonné is also manufactured in and around Nagoya. The two-centuries old metalwork technique produces masterpieces sought the world over.

Takayama is famous for Ichii-itto-bori, a 400-year-old craft of carving naturally dried wood into everything from Buddhist images to fanciful masks.