Sitting in sublime obscurity in a raised valley one hour by bus from Bitchu-Takahashi, Fukiya Furusato Mura in Okayama Prefecture must surely be one of Japan's most under-appreciated rural destinations. Mention the name even to Japanese travelers and you are likely to draw blank expressions.

Only three buses run a day to the village, passing through an unsullied, almost pastoral countryside, some of the most beautiful in Japan. Its low, woodland valleys, purling streams, traditional terraced farms and rice paddies speak of heritage, time and custom preserved through practice and necessity rather than contrivance. Graveyards tucked along the edges of private gardens, graduated slopes and fields fortified with ancient walls compiled of cannonball-shaped stones, indicate long habitation, residences lived in by the same family for generations.

A kilometer or so before the road rises to Fukiya, as it is known to the locals, the bus slows down at a fairy-tale hamlet (whose name I did not catch) to avoid scraping the eaves of homes, so narrow is the passage. It's worth alighting here to examine the well-preserved wood-and-plaster homes, a foretaste of Fukiya's superlative architecture. Entering Fukiya a few minutes later, the bus decelerates once more to avoid the guttering of buildings.