The traditional village of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama Shogawa are located along the river in Gifu and Toyama prefectures has very unique character and it is a place that should be visited once in your lifetime. The three unique villages are Ogimachi, Ainokura and Suganuma. Its uniqueness has strong relation into snow in the winter and harvest in the fall. Because it is located in a valley surrounded by hills, this village area receives abundant snow and make the village create distinctive architecture style for their traditional house called Gassho Zukuri or construction of praying hands. The shape is different from other traditional house in Japan which has no nails in the joints, using special wood and thatched roof.






The village also has a traditional community who takes care of the village’s cultural property and activities. They also have a schedule to change the roof materials of their traditional houses. If we were lucky enough, visitors can experience the process of re-thatching the traditional roof in the Gassho Zukuri. In Ainokura village, visitors can visit the oldest house named Yusuke Traditional House. Inside this traditional house , visitor can experience the photography exhibition of Gokayama area. The photos were taken by the professional photographer who is also the owner Yusuke House.



Beside its distinctive architecture, there is also traditional dance that has a close relationship with winter and harvest named kokuriko. Kokuriko Dance is an interpretation of the sound of the snow in winter and to celebrate the harvest in the autumn. This dance festival is usually held at the Hakusangu temple in Gokayama. Autumn period has also close relation to this ancient village. There are many unique activities in this indigenous villages on the harvest season such as inegari (traditional paddy rice harvest), usually held in late September and also Doburoku festival which is a thanksgiving festival for the harvest. In this festival, sake (Japanese rice wine) is distributed to people who participated in the festival. The festival is held usually in the middle of October each year.



Shirakawa and Gokayama indigenous village offers very unique program that Winter and Autumn Light Up. This program highlights the traditional house "Gassho Zukuri" at night time. The lights are installed in a certain place so that at night can illuminate the traditional house in Ogimachi, Suganuma and Ainokura. The view of traditional village during the day and night is completely different. During the day, the village has a view of the old period of Japan surrounded by nature while at night with the special lighting turn the traditional village’s atmosphere like in a fairy tale. When the autumn, the daylight provides a variety of colors because of the mountains surround filled with red, yellow and orange leaves , while at night the color of the trees around the traditional house will be more visible with the help of special lighting. Winter and Autumn Light Up program makes the traditional village is possible to be experienced at night time. Normally without the light up, the village is a bit dark in night time. This program is usually held in November for the fall and in February and March for the winter.

Place : Shirakawa-go (Ogimachi) dan Gokayama (desa Suganuma dan Ainokura)
Tourism Information Address:
501-56 Hatogaya-517 Shirakawa Village Ohno-District Gifu Pref. (Shirakawa-go)
754 Kaminashi, Nanto Toyama 939-1914 Japan (Gokayama)
Website :
http://shirakawa-go.org/en/ (Shirakawa-go)
http://www.gokayama-info.jp/en/ (Gokayama)
Access : night bus, shinkansen train and JR, World heritage bus