Japan's three great sights, on one train line日本三大を一本の線で

Every 15 January a wooden shrine tower is built in the village, men aged 25 and 42 defend it, and the rest try to set it alight with torches. The fire fight starts at about 20:30. It is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, and Nozawa counts it among Japan's three great fire festivals (日本三大火祭り).

That list has no fixed members. Nachi no Hi-matsuri in Wakayama is in nearly every version; the other places go to Kurama (Kyoto) in some and to Nozawa in others, and some versions use Kurume's Onioni (鬼夜, 7 January). In 2026 the village's own site said viewing tickets went only to residents and lodging guests, so book a room for the night of 14–15 January first (15 January 2027 is a Friday). Nozawa Onsen guide.

Kurobe is in every version of 日本三大峡谷; the usual three are Kurobe, Kiyotsu-kyō (Niigata) and Ōsugi-dani (Mie). It is a national Place of Scenic Beauty. Walk 1 minute from the Shinkansen station to the Chitetsu line (26 minutes, ¥740) to Unazuki, then ride the open-air torokko train up the gorge: 20.1 km, about 1h 20m each way, ¥2,480 one way to Keyakidaira.

In 2026 trains run to 30 November, with the full line open since 1 October; Keyakidaira seats book online (English site, credit card) or by phone (0765-62-1011). The 2027 season is not announced. Kurobe Gorge guide.

日本三霊山 is Fuji, Hakusan and Tateyama. The phrase is younger than the faith: an early use is in a 1902 Tateyama guidebook, and it spread after 1927, when a writer read a line of the Etchū Owara folk song, Etchū de Tateyama, Kaga de wa Hakusan, Suruga no Fuji, sankoku ichi da, as naming the three. The looser 日本三大霊山 sometimes swaps in Ontake.

Tateyama is the massif above Toyama (Ōyama, 3,003 m). Most visitors see it from Murodō at 2,450 m: Chiho Railway from Dentetsu-Toyama to Tateyama (about 1 hour), then cable car and bus. ¥4,090 one way, ¥7,380 return from Tateyama Station. The route runs to 30 November 2026 (winter timetable from 4 November); the 2027 opening is not announced, though it opened on 15 April in 2025 and 2026. Alpine Route guide.

Nara's Tōdai-ji and Kamakura's Kōtoku-in are the two fixed Buddhas. The third has no settled holder: Kyoto's Hōkō-ji Buddha had it in the Edo period, Kobe's Hyōgo Daibutsu (1891) before the war, and since then Takaoka, Gifu's Daibutsu and others compete. Toyama Prefecture's tourism site counts Takaoka, so go for the Buddha, not for the ranking.

It is a 15.85 m bronze Amida, finished in 1933 after 26 years of work, and its face has earned it the nickname of the most handsome Buddha in Japan. Open 9:00–17:00; the gallery under the base is by donation. Zuiryū-ji (¥500, National Treasure) is a short walk away. Takaoka guide.

日本三名園 pairs Kenrokuen with Kōraku-en (Okayama) and Kairaku-en (Mito). It is the firmest list here: the phrase was in print by 1899, and all three are Edo-period lord's gardens built round a pond. One theory matches them to snow (Kenrokuen, with its yukitsuri ropes), moon (Kōraku-en) and blossom (Kairaku-en).

11.4 hectares, ¥320, open every day: 7:00–18:00 to 15 October, then 8:00–17:00 from 16 October. Two gates (Hasuike-mon and Zuishin-zaka) are free before opening hours. The snow ropes go up from 1 November. Kenrokuen guide.

The other half of 日本三霊山. Hakusan (2,702 m) straddles Ishikawa and Gifu; its head shrine, the origin of some 3,000 Hakusan shrines across Japan, stands at the foot at Tsurugi. The mountain is a summer climb, but the shrine is free and open to walk at any time of year.

Take the IR Ishikawa Railway from Kanazawa to Nishi-Kanazawa (3 min, ¥220), change to the Hokutetsu Ishikawa Line at Shin-Nishi-Kanazawa for 25 minutes to Tsurugi (¥540), then a bus or a walk of 20 minutes or more. Hakusan is in every version of the sacred-mountain list.

日本三大木造鳥居 means the wooden torii of Kehi Jingū, Kasuga Taisha in Nara and Itsukushima in Hiroshima. The qualifier matters: a plain 日本三大鳥居 list is also quoted, and some versions rank by height. Kehi's great torii is 10.9 m, built in 1645 in the ryōbu style, an Important Cultural Property that came through the air raids which destroyed the shrine halls.

It stands at the top of the shopping street from the station and is free, so it fits the gap while you change trains at Tsuruga. Fushimi Inari has no counterpart in Hokuriku, but this is the nearest thing to a big torii on the line.

日本三大松原 names Miho no Matsubara (Shizuoka), Niji no Matsubara (Saga) and Kehi-no-Matsubara. Amanohashidate in Kyoto is the rival for the third place in some lists. Kehi's grove is about 17,000 red and black pines (most of them red, unusual among Japanese seaside pine groves) along a beach on Tsuruga Bay, a National Place of Scenic Beauty since 1934.

Quiet most of the year and a swimming beach in summer. Pair it with Kehi Jingū, which is the shrine whose garden the pines once were.

Take an early Hakutaka (2h 17m–2h 36m) to Kurobe-Unazukionsen, the Chitetsu line to Unazuki (26 min), and book a mid-morning torokko to Keyakidaira (about 1h 20m each way; seats can be booked online from 3 months ahead, Keyakidaira included). Sleep at Unazuki Onsen.

Back down the Chitetsu line, 12 minutes by Hakutaka to Toyama, then Dentetsu-Toyama to Tateyama and up to Murodō (about 2h each way). Walk by Mikurigaike pond and be back for the last descent. Sleep in Toyama.

Morning at the Daibutsu and Zuiryū-ji (¥500). Back to Shin-Takaoka by the Johana Line (5 min) and the Shinkansen to Kanazawa (about 20 minutes). Higashi Chaya at dusk. Sleep in Kanazawa, near Kenrokuen if you can.

Kenrokuen at opening (free early entry, then ¥320), a half-day to Hakusan Hime Jinja and back, then the Shinkansen to Tsuruga (about 50 minutes). Kehi Jingū is easier in the late afternoon than after dark. Sleep in Tsuruga.

Walk the pine grove in the morning, then take the Thunderbird to Kyoto or Osaka; the Arch Pass covers it, with the change at Tsuruga done in 8 minutes. Or go back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen (3h 6m).

The Alpine Route and the Kurobe Gorge railway are closed from December to April, so winter is a different trip: Iiyama, a room in Nozawa for the night of 14–15 January, and the Dōsojin fire festival. Add Kenrokuen under its snow ropes (to mid March) and Kehi Jingū in snow. See Japan in January and February and Nozawa Onsen.