I appreciate all the suggestions/recommendations. And following Angeisse's comment about the direct train between Takayama and Kyoto, I was about to look that up and then came AlwaysAisle's posts with the precise times!

Regarding a few of the comments made here, yes we are hoping to include Shirikawa-go as part of the trip and need to figure out what the logistics to that are. What are folks thoughts if we end up making self connection in HND from either ITM/KIX or from Komatsu? Clearly routing on one ticket is preferred, but I'm juggling some award options and those domestic legs don't always cooperate.