Hida City Creates a Broad-leaved Town Development (Part 1)|"Hida Sancho City Soyana" Preview

In mid-June, I received an interview invitation for the preview of "Hida Sancho City Soyana" to be held on Friday, July 1.
Feeling something familiar, I headed to Hida Furukawa for the second time this year on the last day of June. (Photo: Tiansheng Prefectural Nature Park)

In mid-June, we received a press release from Hida City, Gifu Prefecture, announcing that the farmer's market "Hida Sanko City Soyana" will open in July article I did. Speaking of Hida April of this year I had just observed the release of carp in the Hida Furukawa River.

The press release reads, "To sell Hida's agricultural products brought about by Hida's hardwoods." It was explained that "hardwood is used in the interior." Apparently, Hida City is working on urban development based on the concept of broad-leaved trees. This is something I didn't notice during my spring visit.

Via Hokuriku Shinkansen "Toyama Station", take the conventional line to "Hida Furukawa"

In the spring, I took a bus from Tokyo via Nagoya Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen and entered "Hida Takayama" late at night and stayed overnight. The next morning, I entered Hida Furukawa. On the way back, I took a highway bus from "Hida Takayama" to "Busta Shinjuku". I was impressed by the ease of use of the highway bus.

This time, I dared to choose a different route. On the morning of June 30, I went to Hida Furukawa Station on the JR Takayama Main Line, a conventional line, via Toyama Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen.

About 40 minutes after departing from Toyama Station, the train enters the Hida Mountains. It is often referred to as the Northern Alps, but the official name set by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan is the Hida Mountains.

The train follows the Miyagawa River, one of the largest rivers in the Hokuriku region, which flows into Toyama Bay. Anyway, the view from the car window is wonderful. After leaving early in the morning and arriving at Toyama Station, I thought it would be a time to make up for the lack of sleep when I thought about moving to Gifu Prefecture, but I was absorbed in following the spectacular scenery with my eyes.

In fact, this route is the fastest way to get from Tokyo to Hida Furukawa. This time, it was Tokyo Station (departing at 7:20→), Toyama Station (arriving at 9:30 and departing at 9:53), → Hida Furukawa Station (departing at 11:06). In addition, you can rent a car from Toyama Airport. There are various routes in Gifu Prefecture, probably because there are no airfields.

The train arrives at Hida Furukawa Station in about 70 minutes. Immediately, we moved to the "Festival Square" in the center of the city and ate at "Fukuzenji Soba" by the square. Hida is known for its ramen, but in recent years, more and more restaurants have been offering hand-made soba noodles made with Hida buckwheat flour. Hida should be delicious because the water is good.

By the way, in the city of Hida Furukawa, it takes up to 10 minutes to walk from somewhere to somewhere. There is no rush to move.

After lunch, we walked through the famous "Hida Furukawa Shirakabe Dozo". The Seto River, where the carp swim, is more like a waterway than a river. The current is quite strong and there is a sense of dynamism on the surface of the water. The carp in the river are swimming desperately to keep up with the current. Because they are trained, all the carp are big and plump.

It was very hot on the day, but it became cooler as I walked while looking at the Seto River.

Broad-leaved town development

Here, I would like to share some basic information about hardwood trees in Hida City.
Hida City, located in the northernmost part of Gifu Prefecture, is covered by forests for about 93% of its total area, and villages and arable land for crops are scattered along the Miyagawa and Kogen rivers and their tributaries.

About 70% of the forest is made up of broad-leaved trees such as beech and oak, and the fallen leaves become mulch, which are contained in rain and snowmelt, and over the years they become streams and pour into fields. The humus becomes natural water containing minerals and brings blessings to wild vegetables and crops.

Idea base for the use of hardwood "FabCafeHida"

We visited FabCafeHida, a base where ideas on how to use hardwood are born. Some of you may remember "FabCafe Tokyo" in Shibuya Dogenzaka. That's right, this is an affiliated store.

The building is a renovated old house with a history of more than 100 years. Inside, there is a café space, an order counter, and a 3D printer in one corner. At the back is a large workshop with wood stacked on top of each other. There is also a lodging space, and we are proposing a woodworking experience plan (9,800 yen excluding tax) for 2 days and 1 night. The impression inside is wood first, wood second. Anyway, the presence of wood is strong.

On the day of the event, Mr. Inoue, who was in charge of marketing, showed us around the facility. At the table beside me, there was a long-haired, monotone woodworking designer who was casually drawing drawings.

Gradually, I came to understand the urban development of broad-leaved trees.
When Hida City thought about the use of hardwoods, a major issue appeared in front of them. It was evaluated that many of the broad-leaved trees such as beech and mizuna in the forests of Hida are small-diameter trees with an average diameter of about 26 cm, and that they can only be used for pulp, chips, and firewood.

Therefore, Hida City will cultivate broad-leaved trees from a 100-year perspective. The goal was to create new value for small-diameter trees. It is surprising that a government with a short business cycle would set a 100-year perspective.

On the other hand, the current administration will need to produce results as soon as possible. That is the initiative to "create new value for small-diameter trees." One of these bases will be "FabCafeHida".

In 2015, Hida City established Hida Forest Dance Co., Ltd. (commonly known as "Hidakuma") as a joint venture with two private companies. The following year, he opened FabCafeHida. One of the companies invested in the company is Loftwork, a design company in Tokyo. The company supports urban development throughout the country through design. In Hida City, he established a company and worked on business. The investment rate is more than 50%. That's probably why he fell in love with Hida.

Loftwork has a network of domestic and international creators. So I invited them to "FabCafeHida". We asked them to learn about hardwoods, brainstormed ideas, and made prototypes repeatedly. As a result, the company has developed furniture and fixture brands such as "SLANT_STOOL" and "Modern Cat Tree NEKO", as well as corporate office furniture.

Hardwood Use Cases There are many others that are coming out.

It has been about seven years since the project started, and the foundation for urban development that makes use of hardwood trees has been established (to be continued in the second part tomorrow).

* The main photo of the article is Tensei Prefectural Nature Park (Kawai Town, Hida City). There are many species of broad-leaved trees, and in autumn, the leaves turn color like a patchwork.