I’m constantly amazed at how dramatic the landscapes are in the places I have lived since I left the Ohio River Valley. When I lived in Colorado, I spent spring and summer breaks traveling to places like Red Rocks, the Great Sand Dunes, Hot Sulphur Springs, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Lake, and Garden of the Gods. When I decided to move back to the Midwest for grad school, I felt a sense of loss–at least until I got to Michigan and discovered how gorgeous it was. If you’ve never been to Michigan in the summer or fall, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The maple leaves, Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, the lakeshores, the forests, the wine country in the north–even without the mountains I never wanted for beauty.
Moving to Hokuriku meant I got both the sea and the mountains, but the sea never grew on me. My old apartment was about two meters from the water, and while I had always hated the humidity, the tsunami also soured my attitude toward sea-side living. Now when I tell people in Chubu and Kansai that I live in Kanazawa, they often respond, “Oh, by the sea?”, but I live far enough inland that I can’t see it. Rather, I tend to think of Ishikawa as mountainous, with Hakusan in the south of the prefecture and the Central Alps also in the region.
Even though Michigan showed me there was beauty in non-mountainous regions, I still love the mountains (no matter how many times Hakusan tries to kill me). Over the long weekend, a friend of mine from high school who now lives in Wakayama came to visit and requested that we go to Shirakawa-go（白川郷), a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the mountain valley of Gifu.
To get to Ogimachi (荻町), the largest village, we rented a Nissan March and headed for the Hokuriku Expressway. I was quite surprised how easy it was to rent a car in Japan. My friend and I both have Japanese licenses (transferred from our US ones), and all we had to do was show up at the neighborhood rent-a-car, fill out some easy paperwork, and hit the road. The car, a small-engine “Kei Car,” was about 7200 yen for 12 hours, including the price of optional insurance. Tolls were another 4000 yen, but it was manageable between the four of us. For non-drivers, there’s also the Nouhi bus between Kanazawa and Takayama that stops in Shirakawa-go.
Because Shirakawa-go is near the expressway and close to the main roads, access was no problem despite the evidence of heavy snowfall.
The main attraction of these villages is the gasshô-zukuri (合掌造り), the steep thatched roofs shaped like “praying-hands,” which are characteristic of the buildings here. The roofs protect the buildings from the build-up of snow, though we saw more than a few workers shoveling the roofs.
The buildings tend to have several floors, with the first level for the family home and top floor(s) reserved for industries such as raising silk worms and manufacturing nitre for gunpowder. At the Wada House (和田家), we were able to climb up into the “attic” to get a closer look.
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The smoke and heat from the irori (囲炉裏), a open hearth, would filter up through the vents in the ceiling to the top floors, heating the workshops and blackening the inside of the roof, which apparently helped keep pests out.
After shopping in town, we decided to walk up to the Shiroyama viewpoint (白山展望台) . The hiking trail is inaccessible in the winter, buried under waist-high snow, but we and a number of others took the vehicle-access road–about a 20-minute hike. The view was well worth the effort.
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We also discovered an adorable restaurant called Hiiragi (Holly, 柊), which served Hida beef (hida gyû) and hôba miso yaki, a dish with tofu, vegetables, and in this case, Hida beef, all cooked on a magnolia leaf in miso paste. The staff was incredibly nice, which is not always the case in tourist-heavy restaurants when you look foreign, and the meal was delicious.
We came home with plenty of food omiyage for ourselves: miso, local nihonshu, and hôba miso kits. As we finished our shopping the sun came out, making the snow sparkle and glow.
On the drive home, we stopped in Suganuma (菅沼) and Ainogura (相倉) in Gokayama. Both villages were closed for the night, but we got to see a beautiful pink sunset and a huge full moon over the trees.
This area is stunning, and while Gokayama, with its flowers and rice fields, is gorgeous in autumn, I think I like it best in the winter. After all, there’s something magical about a winter hike, a view of the valley, and looking out on the frozen world while huddled around a table full of grilling magnolia leaves.
This post is an entry in Japingu‘s January 2012 JFesta “Winter in Japan.”
Beautiful! Do people still live in these houses, or are they mostly preserved as historical heritage?
With me living here in Hawaii, people of course immediately think of the sea, and the beach. And the sea is indeed amazingly gorgeous. But I haven’t seen it in a long time. What I do see every day is the mountains. And boy am I going to miss these mountains. I’m not saying I go hiking or anything – hardly ever, though it is fun and I wish I did it more – but just looking at the mountains off in the distance, they are mesmerizingly beautiful.
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At one point we headed down a road that lead into a more residential area, so I think the businesses/museums are the main area and the homes are tucked away. That said, the homes looked fairly traditional on the outside–I think they have rules about construction there to preserve the historical site. When we were in the Wada House, there was a sign warning people to keep it down as there were residents there, so at least a few people still live on site.
Also, mountains aren’t full of nasty jellyfish and sea urchins…
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Some amazing pictures, Leah of such a beautiful place. I love this area with all the white of winter, but it is also amazing in summer when a sea of green. Great post!
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Thanks for commenting! It’s really gorgeous in the fall, too, with the rice ready to be harvested and the orange flowers. I can’t wait to go back!
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So pretty 🙂
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Thank you! It’s a gorgeous area!
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Absolutely beautiful!
I hope can make it there some day too.
Nice descriptions of Colorado and Michigan too. I have yet to make it to those states as well…
Cheers,
Matt
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I highly recommend all three places. There’s a lot of the States I haven’t seen yet, but I’ve been lucky to live in some awesome cities and towns over the last ten years.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for linking me on your site ^^
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Wow awesome snaps !!! We are planning to visit Shirakawa-go asap but we couldn’t get any Gassho-jukuri free for the light up time.Would u recommend the light-up view (stay at Takayama?) or the stay at the farmhouse when available?
I especially loved the sunset snaps 🙂
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Thank you! I haven’t been to the light-up yet or stayed in a farmhouse. I hear that the food is really amazing if you do the farmhouse stay! I stayed in a hostel (J-Hoppers Hida Takayama) when I went to Takayama in the fall, and it’s very nice if you decide to go for a hostel or hotel.
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[…] The Lobster Dance – Leah talks about her recent trip to snowy Shirakawa-go (白川郷). […]
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That last photo is @_@. I love photos and paintings that capture the eerie sense of light seen at dusk, or immediately after late-afternoon rain. Also a win compositionally. Dynamic zigzags, everything shrouded for a great sense of mystery. *Aesthetic Emotions*
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Thank you! I wish I had a tripod for moon photos. I should really invest in one and bring over my hardcore camera from the US…
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Oh, man, this is definitely on my list of places I really want to go see!
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It’s a gorgeous area–definitely recommend it!
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Oh, so beautiful!
Just as much snow as last year, I’d say.
I was lucky to have blue sky and sunshine when I visited until later on.
Unfortunately the houses were not lit up at night. That’s definitely I want to experience, too!
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I hear the light-up is really great, especially if you go up the service road to the look-out. Someday!
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[…] Shirakawa-go […]
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Great pictures! I lived in Takayama and worked in Shokawa, a small village near Shirakawa. These bring back memories. I actually OWNED a Nissan March. Great car. When I was there, they were just beginning work on the expressway. I’m curious now to see how much the place has changed.
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Thanks for reading and commenting!
I kind of wish I had decided to drive the March! I used to drive an old Corolla here–wasn’t pretty, but it ran pretty well for its age. I’m sure the March we rented had much better handling.
The expressway is complete now, and it makes getting to Takayama and Gokayama a snap. Shirakawa-go is also right by the highway. It’s really amazing to think of how the highways here have opened up places like Suzu and Shirakawa-go that used to be extremely remote.
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How was driving to Shirakawago in the snow? We’re going to try to get there this winter when our friends from back home visit us, and were thinking we’d bus from Nagoya because it might be too sketchy by car, but do you think it’s doable? We don’t have snow tires but we do have chains…
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We took the Hokuriku Expressway, which is really well cleared; Shirakawa-go is right off the highway. If the weather isn’t actively bad (it had snowed a lot that week but wasn’t snowing at the time), then driving should be possible. We had no problems, but I can’t imagine taking the scenic route there in the dead of winter.
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