Shirakawa-go - Farmhouses or haystacks

Snow on the mountains overlooking Shirakawa-go
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We caught a local bus from Takayama to Shirakawago.

We were given the front seats. The bus driver, a young man, thought he was very cool with his D&G sunglasses and carefully styled hair. He didn't want to wear his bus driver cap because it would mess his hair, so he only put it on to make announcements. The rest of the time he spent checking it still looked okay.

We quickly tired of the front seats as the leg room was designed for very short people and my knees were complaining loudly. We stopped at a number of little villages en route. The journey took us up through the mountains with a number of road tunnels and road suspended on the edge of the mountains and covered to protect it from landslides. These days there are a number of dams in the mountains. The forest through here would be beautiful in autumn with all the deciduous trees in full colour. The speed limit for the whole two hours was 50kph or less, so you can imagine how twisty and steep the roads were.

Shirakawa-go village
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Some of the road signs also gave you the outside temperature, I presume so that you can decide if it will be icy on the roads. The temperature dropped 10C during the journey but came up a couple of degrees by the time we arrived at the village.

After two hours we arrived at Shirakawago bus stop. We collected our bags and walked across the suspension bridge to the village itself. Our accommodation Kidoya is one of the gassho (farmhouses) in the world heritage village. Most visitors come for a day visit, and the village was relatively crowded with Japanese tourists.

Lyn with a couple of faceless monkey dolls
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Shirakawago is so picture perfect and scenic it could be something out of Lord of the Rings. The village itself is a group of farm houses built on a flat valley area in the mountains.

The houses are traditional farm houses with very steep roofs that are thatched in thick straw, up to two feet thick. They are called gassho because they are supposed to resemble hands in prayer. The straw is replaced every couple of years and the whole village participates. Imagine up to fifty people working on a roof! Apparently the snow here is very deep in the winter so a well insulated roof would be a bonus. The walls on the other hand were timber and not that thick at all. I am not sure if they also line the walls in the winter. The inside of the houses were just like other Japanese houses, although they were much bigger than the ones in the towns and cities.

Farmhouse at Shirakawa-go
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There is a river running through the area and water appeared to be running out of the hills everywhere. Whilst the river was just a gentle flow now, it is obvious that it becomes something else during the thaw, as the banks are wide and supported, with large concrete blocks to break up the flow and reduce the speed along the banks.

All through the village pipes directed water into pools and gutters where trout and carp lived side by side. It was also used to fill the rice paddies. Taps were left running everywhere (perhaps it would flood if the water built up)

Reflections at Shirakawa-go
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The rice paddies in between the houses had been flooded in preparation for planting which took place while we were there. Planting is no longer a back breaking task, a special tractor-like machine with spiked wheels is used to plant the rice into the mud.

Lunch today was a local treat - meat (Hida beef) cooked over a candle flame with miso on a magnolia leaf. (hoda miso) Delicious! Washed down by tea (for Lyn) and beer (for Michael) you can't go wrong.

Shirakawago is unique in Japan in that smoking is only permitted in set areas of village. When you see the village this makes sense, as the houses are timber with straw roofs. In fact the village is obsessed by fire and has special sprinklers throughout the village. When you visit you can see why. The village also requires visitors to take their rubbish with them, a simple way of dealing with the mountain of rubbish that would be left behind each day for the small community to dispose of.

New roof at Shirakawa-go
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After a full day walking around the village we checked in at Kidoya and enjoyed a sensational dinner of local foods prepared by the owner just for us. We were the only guests. Dinner was served in the traditional Japanese way, in front of the TV, so we could watch the Sumo championships.

After dinner we enjoyed the traditional Japanese bath at Kidoya. It was large and made of timber not unlike Huon pine. It was big enough for 3-4 people and soaking in it at the end of the day was delicious. Obviously water shortages don't exist in Japan.

Michael on a path between the paddies in Shirakawa-go
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The following morning we had a repeat performance with a great breakfast after which we packed our bags and wandered back through the village and over the suspension bridge to the bus stop.

This bus driver was not as interesting, but the trip was much quicker as we went on the freeway that the tourist buses use, not the local roads that we used on the way up to Shirakawa-go. We were back in Takayama in 1.5 hours. Time to look around before catching the train to Nagoya and Tokyo.