White canvas stalls line the east bank of the Miyagawa River for seven hundred meters, from Kajibashi bridge to Yayoibashi. In spring, mountain vegetables: taranome, koshiabura, wild udo. In summer, tomatoes and cucumbers. In autumn, mushrooms and persimmons. In winter, pickled red turnip and dried greens. What the Hida mountains produce, this market makes available. Most of the sellers are local farmers — often older women who will offer samples without being asked, who know exactly how to cook what they're selling, and who speak in the Hida dialect regardless of who's listening. The market traces its origin to the early nineteenth century, when silk farmers began selling mulberry leaves along the riverbank. After the silk industry declined, it became a vegetable market, and in 1962, it settled into its current location along the river. Ten minutes away, the Jinya-mae Morning Market occupies the square in front of a 300-year-old government house. The two markets are a short walk apart and feel entirely different — one open and civic, the other intimate and riparian. Both together are what a morning in Takayama means. One of Japan's three great morning markets. Open every day of the year.