The second place we intend to visit today is close to Takayama but when we arrive there it appears to be in a different century. It is a rural area that has been mostly isolated from the surrounding countryside especially during the winters till the 20th century and it still maintains its traditional Gassho-zukuri(praying hands) architecture which is supposed to protect the roofs from collapsing from too much snow in the winter. Because of this it is an Unesco Heritage site and this is how we found out about it. It takes a bit to find the parking area which is huge and full of Japanese tour buses which we did not expect given the isolation of the area.
There are already a few examples of houses on this side of the river with the visitor center being housed in one of them. They look quite special and we are looking forward to seeing the rest of them, but where is the actual village?
Soon we understand that on the side of the river we are on there are mostly recreated houses while the actual village is across a rickety looking footbridge. So what can we do, we cross the river on the bridge to the main village on the other side to explore it. As an aside the bridge is actually quite sturdy, it just looks fragile from a distance.
The village is in an area abundant in rains and it seems that it is full of lakes, and small creeks that follow the footpaths along the houses We search and find another visitor center relatively fast and it has a good map that we use to orient ourselves.
Not that much orientation is needed, every corner we turn reveals enchanting sights, it is like we imagine Japan must have looked in the medieval times.
There are relatively few stores especially for a tourist destination as popular as Shirakawa-go appears to be. There are a few streetside shops selling snacks and one or two selling souvenirs and drinks.
Almost all houses in the village have a rice paddy and it looks almost taken from a historical book about Japan. You almost expect a group of samurai to appear after every corner, it is quite exciting.
There are many protected houses in the village, in fact we joke that it is rarer to find a house that isn’t protected than the other way around. But in our opinion they are protected for good reason, each and every one of them looks special.
As we walk around we notice that there are quite a few wildflowers especially in a few fallow rice paddies.
There are creeks everywhere feeding the rice paddies and a few small lakes. And in the creeks there are actual fishes and rubber duckies, quite funny really.
The small ponds are covered by water lilies and the fields have wildflowers in them, everything is scenic and looks maintained wild, the style that Japanese really excel in.
We continue walking through the village enjoying the sights and trying to reach one of the three houses that you can actually visit inside. Everything seems interesting to us, the houses, the rice paddies, the canalization canals near the walkways this is an unexpected highlight of our trip.
We reach the Wada museum house the largest remaining Gassho style house in Shirakawa-go and one of the three houses that you can actually visit. It was the home to an official who dealt in raw silk and it was built in the late Edo Period.
You can visit both the ground floor and the attic with the ground floor being sparsely furnished with a few interesting sights including nicely painted doors and a shrine.
Upstairs and part of downstairs there are also lots of exhibits regarding the growing of the silk worms but the descriptions are mostly in Japanese only.
Still it is interesting to see how they were grown and where they lived as well as the tools used to create the silk threads.
Our eyes are drawn to the roof as this is the only chance we will get to see them from inside. And we notice that no nails are used in building them, it is just rope holding everything together. Quite a skill, especially given the need to ensure that they can hold up in winter.
From the top there are quite a few nice views of the village and the surrounding houses. We are especially taken in by a very scenic view of a lonely house in a rice field.
A small lake is also nearby full of decorative fish. We wonder if anyone is feeding them or they are just wild escapees?
After visiting the museum we return to towards the car but we are already hungry so we decide to but some food from a street vendor. The snacks are quite hot so we have to wait a bit before eating them (and we also need something to drink from a drink machine which is in the parking area). In the end we sit down near the river and people watch the Japanese who cross the bridge while eating the quite good snacks.
And then it is back to the car as we have a long drive ahead of us to Kyoto. It is also slow going as there are lots of tunnels and quite a few trucks initially and later on we get on the Tokyo-Kyoto/Osaka highway during rushhour which makes for slow going.
We arrive relatively late in Kyoto and our hotel is a bit off the more touristic routes so we are lucky to be able to find it relatively fast. It is a quite a large room with a few interesting amenities that we enjoy during our two nights there. After eating dinner from our provisions we go to sleep as tomorrow is a long day where we intend to visit Kyoto and especially the Emperor’s Palace.
