Traditionally hearths were used for heating, cooking and drying.
The Nagase family house was built in 1890. It is one of the biggest houses in the village. It took three years to build. In 2001 the large roof was re-thatched for the first time in 80 years. It was a major event involving more than 500 perople, including volunteers from all over Japan. Some ancestors of the Nagase family were doctors for their Maeda Clan lords. Although the house is open to the public family members still live in the house. One family member served as a guide for our tour of the house.
There are many traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses in this village. Some of them are more than 250 years old. People still live in some of these houses. Other houses are now museums, restaurants, souvenir shops, guest houses and inns. Gassho-zukuri is translated as "constructed like hands in prayer," referring to the steep thatched roofs which loosely resemble Buddhist monks praying with their hands pressed together. The Gasso-zujuri style roof, developed over many generations is made without nails. It was designed to withstand large amounts of heavy snow that typically falls in this region during the winter. A secondary benefit of this type of roof is that it provides a large attic space which has been used for storage and for cultivating silkworms.
Shirakawa-go was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1995.
Seen while traveling from Takayama to Karazawa.
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