Takayama-4 (Shirakawa-go)

"Long, long ago, in a certain place, there were a granddad and grandmom.... "

In Japanese old story, a certain place is always a small village.
A thatched roof, a sunken fire place, laundry in a creek.
People work at a paddy field, man goes to a mountain for firewood gathering,
woman goes to a creek for laundry.

My mom read me a book every night when I was a little girl.
There were also animals in a story, such as monkey, fox, bird, dog, tanuki(Japanese raccoon dog).
Goddess and some kind of sprits or fairies appeared too.
It is amazing for little kids.

Shirakawa-go is a small, traditional village known as a UNESCO world heritage site.
It is so beautiful, spotted "gassyo-zukuri" farmhouses covered by snow remind me such a small village in a story.

from view point, 10minutes by shuttle bus
you can see the same view as postcard.

tourists from various countries were packed in a bus

Access to Shirakawa-go is simple, just take highway bus from Takayama bus center(2 minutes from JR Takayama station) to Shirakawa-go.
It will take 50 minutes and cost 4,300yen(round trip).
No reservation necessary, just buy ticket at ticket counter and join the queue.
Bus leave to Shirakawa-go every hour.

cross a bridge to the village

When I got off the bus, I found snowy mountains, a river, snow, a bridge..... and many people!
People lined to cross a bridge, walked slowly on snow, took pictures and watched carefully old farmhouses.

steep roofs make heavy snow fall.
"gassyo-zukuri"
gassyo means hands in prayer.

inside farmhouse, large attic

some are more than 250years old,
some are used as "minsyuku"(guest house),
some are open for public as museum.

a wooden signboard shows direction to farmhouse.

"natural mineral water coffee"

"welcome to shirakawa-go"
notice for tourists to protect beautiful village

people were busy to take picture at view point.
it was not easy, because of snowy steep ground.

tea time at takayama
right after trip to shirakawa-go

It was an amazing trip to Shirakawa-go.
It is like a trip to old time world, but it is a real world where real people are living.
It is not easy to live in the remote village in mountain.
We can learn about Shirakawa-go's history and people's effort to protect farmhouses and the village at open air museum "gassyo-zukuri minkaen".(Japanese page)


More about Shirakawa-go or Takayama?

★Shirakawa-go by japan-guide.com
★Shirakawa Village website
★Takayama-3(Hida Furukawa)
★Takayama-2(Higashiyama Walking Course)
★Takayama-1(Takayama Jinya)