We were out of our lovely townhouse before 7am so we could get to Higashi Chaya and experience the old town without any other tourists around. Even though it was so early the day was already incredibly humid, the Sea of Japan coast is hot!!! It didn’t take too long to get to the tea house district, and we were rewarded we completely empty streets. The buildings looked stunning in the early hours, and it was enjoyable to walk around without being shoulder-to-shoulder with people.

The only downside of being so early is that none of the stores were open, but it was an acceptable tradeoff! We spent just over an hour out of the house, and were back around 8am and soon got on the road to spend a day in Fukui prefecture. Few people who visit Japan visit the Hokuriku region, although popularity is increasing, and an even smaller number of people visit Fukui, so I really wanted to explore. By the end of the day, Fukui was one of my favourite prefectures!!!

This was one of the first times we got stuck in traffic on the expressway, huge renovations are going on for roads in Ishikawa and Fukui, and we got stuck in the morning rush. Luckily, as with much of more rural Japan, we got lovely views of the rice fields and mountains on our way. Our first planned stop for the day was Maruoka Castle, one of the 12 original castles in Japan. A cute, stout castle, the grounds were small but enjoyable, and it was fun to have a look around.

Although all the windows were open, the castle was clearly not built to survive this brutal summer, it was boiling inside. The views from the windows were beautiful, a cute little down, with the brand new Shinkansen tracks in the distance. It didn’t take long to climb the (incredibly steep) steps within the castle and make our way back down again. We were soon back on the road to discover what Fukui is truly famous for: dinosaurs.

You wouldn’t usually think Japan and then think dinosaurs, but Fukui is home to three separate dinosaur discoveries: the Fukuisaurus, Fukuiraptor, and the Fukuititan. In recent years several further dinosaurs have been discovered in Fukui too, and this really draws tourists. Fukui is home to a dinosaur museum, but as it was the summer holidays and we wanted to avoid crowds, so we skipped it this time. Instead, we headed to the local Michi no eki: Roadside station Dinosaur Valley Katsuyama to meet the lovely raptor-slide and check out the dinosaur snacks and items. It was absolutely heaving with people, but we were able to say hello to the raptor and pick up some dinosaur souvenirs.

We were on the road again, after enjoying a quick lunch in the car, and were heading for Heisenji Hakusan Shrine. On our way across town, my husband spotted an enormous pagoda peaking out of the forest, so a split-second decision was made and we rerouted to explore what it might be.

We had stumbled across Echizen Daibutsu, an absolutely enormous temple complex with a 17m tall Buddha statue, the tallest sitting Buddha in Japan. I couldn’t believe that I had never heard of this place before, it was stunning, and there were only about 5 other people on the entire 22-hectare grounds. The complex was built in 1987 by Kiyoshi Tada, a local businessman, and was obviously set it up to be very popular, the path up to the gate was lined with empty storefronts, which you can see below. I can’t recommend this place enough, if you find yourself in Fukui definitely visit.

The photo below doesn’t even show the scale of the Buddha, the building is five stories, and the Great Buddha and a further 1,281 statues fill the place. As with many temples, there were ema boards, and tablets to ask for healing. We lit some incense in the viewing platform and spent a while wandering the walls absolutely fascinated with the hundreds and hundreds of statues.

Not only were the buildings impressive but the complex held several gardens and ponds. We spent some time wandering around the gardens before making our way to the pagoda, which drew us there in the first place. The pagoda here is said to be one of, if not the, tallest pagoda in all of Japan. You can travel up in a lift to the top floor and walk around the edge to get birds-eye views of the entire town.

After a hot journey up in the lift we exited to the balcony of the tallest floor of the pagoda, we could see the valley of Katsuyama, the vibrant rice fields, and to our surprise a castle popping out above the great hall’s roof – and now we had another stop on our list!

We spent about an hour and a half at the temple complex, and the pure size of it, and how beautiful it was to be a truly hidden gem. We still wanted to visit Heisenji Hakusan Shrine but on our way, through the tiny roads of Katsuyama, we found a beautiful view of Katsuyama Castle Museum. For a reconstruction, it fits with the surroundings so well.

Heisenji Hakusan Shrine is was founded in the year 717 as a point of pilgrimage to access Hakusan. Today it is better known as a moss shrine, with moss-covered stairs and forested areas. Even bigger than the temple complex, the shrine covers 200 hectares up to the summit of the mountain. Sadly, due to the very hot summer, much of the moss was scorched, crispy, and brown, so the look of the shrine was quite different from what I had seen before.

We climbed the stairs and hills for 30 minutes to see the Haiden, which was much greener than the pathway and was more enjoyable. I was glad we had stopped at Echizen, as Heisenji Hakusan Shrine wasn’t as beautiful as I thought it would be. We got back down to the car and planned to visit Katsuyama Castle Museum. As a reconstruction, the grounds were quite small, but very interestingly the castle foundation had enormous dragons molded into them.

Unfortunately, the museum had closed before we arrived, so after a short wander around the grounds we decided to get back to the expressway and return to Kanazawa. Driving east towards Kanazawa we were lucky to have a view of the coastline almost the entire way, and soon a view of the setting sun. We were lucky to find Tokumitsu Parking Area which had, not only a viewing platform but an enormous #LOVE on the beach.

It was quite a long drive due to traffic, and we got back to our home and cooked some dinner. We had one last spot for the day, the stunning Tsuzumi-mon Gate at Kanazawa train station. It is enormous and probably makes this the most beautiful train station I have ever seen.