Takigahara Farm
Through an initiative launched in connection with the Aoyama Farmer’s Market in Tokyo and backed by Kurosaki Teruo, the charismatic director of design firm Idée, the hamlet of Takigahara in Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture is attracting young creatives from throughout Japan who want to pursue a more earth-connected, sustainable lifestyle. Starting in 2016 with the debut of Takigahara Farm, then its Café, and now Takigahara House for lodging, this revitalization initiative features skillfully renovated old farmhouses in a stunningly beautiful setting surrounded by mountains and forests.
More projects are underway. The Farm is readying a new studio, slated to open in summer of 2020, where woodturning and lacquering techniques will be taught. And all staff members share in the responsibility of running the Takigahara Café. As the only eatery in the area it has become a lively hub for locals as well as for travelers passing through.
Takigahara Café
Soups, salads, and soba-flour buckwheat galettes. The menu is simple and always changing at Takigahara Café, but the ingredients are as fresh as they can be: pulled and plucked from the garden just steps away, or procured from neighboring farmers that morning. Depending on the season, the galette offerings might be minced wild boar and egg; shiitake and béchamel; or prosciutto and basil. Fresh herbs and homemade syrups feature in refreshing tonics, and wholesome flavors fill out the dessert menu, too: crepes and galettes made with butter and sugar; yuzu and honey; vanilla ice cream and blueberry sauce. The coffee is by hipster-favorite Stockholm Roast.
Takigahara Café is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday to Monday.
Takigahara House
One party of up to four can enjoy overnight accommodations in this renovated kura rice storehouse, built of locally quarried tuff stone some eight decades ago. Guests can try their hand at farming and participate in other Takigahara events. Two hiking trails to the 897-meter summit of Mount Kurakake are within walking distance, and the hot springs of Awazu to the northeast and Yamashiro to the southwest are just 15 minutes away by car. Nearby Hiyo-machi, a hamlet of just seven homesteads, is notable for its mossy cedar groves, and is ranked among the top 100 scenic farm villages of Japan.
Takigahara Farm & House
O-66 Takigahara-machi, Komatsu, Ishikawa 923-0335
Takigahara Café
Ta-2 Takigahara-machi, Komatsu, Ishikawa 923-0335
Find out more at takigaharafarm.com
To book a stay at Takigahara House, visit www.airbnb.com/rooms/25519449
See explorekomatsu.com for information on things to do throughout the city of Komatsu.