The name Shirakawa-go means 'White River Village'. There is a beautiful river running through with blue/green water - the rocks are sort of white... but I think it might come from what I assume would be a frozen river in the winter with lots of snow on top of the ice. I just made that up, but it makes sense. They get a lot of snow, which is the reason for the sharply steeped roofs. The thatched roofs are replaced every 20 years. The whole village used to pitch in and help but now there are companies that can be hired. The entire village, which is tucked into a little valley, is a UNESCO site and is full of tourists by day but quiets down after 5 or so since there are no restaurants or other facilities except a few inns. The fact that everyone is on foot and there are only a few of the resident's cars on the road is really nice. It is soooo green with all the rice fields and the mountains. Just beautiful and soul reviving after living with so much concrete, so many apartment buildings and a lack of nature...
Shirakawa-go is about an hour's drive from Takayama. We took a bus and arrived around 9:30. The weather report was for rain and thunderstorms but we lucked out, and although there are no blue skies in my pictures which is too bad, it didn't start raining until it was time for us to get back on the bus.
These are the type of hats the farmer's used to wear. The village is behind us. Why is 'Hello Kitty' there? I have no idea....
The style of building, with the steep, thatched roofs is called 'gassho'.
Isn't this idyllic?!
Water lillies.
For food storage.
The roof's framework.
There was water, and the sound of rushing water, everywhere - and it was so clear and beautiful.
A shrine.
Nap time!
We took a coffee break in a restored gassho. What a view! Good coffee too.
The outside of the coffee shop.
We really enjoyed our time walking around but were finished looking around a good few hours before our bus was scheduled to leave. I had booked an early arrival and late departure thinking we'd need the whole day to see everything at a leisurely pace. But it's a small village... and it had started to drizzle. I decided to go to the bus terminal and see if we could get seats on an earlier but and it wasn't a problem. They actually decided to put on an extra bus. It started really raining as soon as we pulled away! I'm sure the village is beautiful in every season - here is a picture of the winter scene - magical.
