From Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, 75 mins by bus. Rental car recommended for the Gokoyama villages.
DURATION By car the villages can be comfortably visited in a day. Opportunities to stay overnight (see japan-guide.com).
INFORMATION Shirakawa village office (05769) 6-1311; fax (05769) 6-1709; e-mail: [email protected]
ATTRACTIONS Museums, gift shops, open houses and viewing spots.
Deep in the mountains of central Japan is a remote river valley famous for its ‘prayer-hand houses’ (gassho zukuri). The name derives from the steeply angled roofs, which resemble hands joined together in Buddhist prayer. They are designed to cope with the weight of snow in winter, for the area has one of the heaviest snowfalls in Japan. As 95 percent of the area is mountainous, it meant that for long months in the past the villagers were cut off from the outside world. To cope, they developed a self-sufficient lifestyle for which the housing was indispensable.
Beneath the huge roofs are two-, three- and even four-storey houses. Remarkably, they are built without nails or metal supports, using only natural materials: wood, clay, straw and paper. An ‘A frame’ of giant oaks supports the roof, with the rafters bound in place by thick straw rope. The roof is covered with thatch, up to a meter thick, which has to be periodically renewed. Because of the risk of rotting, the re-thatching is carried out by a cooperative of forty or more villagers in just a single day or two.
The imposing structures could shelter extended families, with the largest holding up to around fifty people. The open hearths on the ground floor helped warm the upper levels, and the smoke served to repel insects and preserve the woodwork. The large roof space provided room for cottage industries, which compensated for the lack of income from arable land. Silkworm cultivation, the making of washi (Japanese paper) and the production of saltpeter for gun-powder helped sustain the households.
Traditional footwear in the deep snow of winter was a simple pair of straw boots.
The steeply pitched thatched roofs have large windows in the gable-end walls, designed to provide lighting and ventilation for silkworm production.
Surrounded by mountains, the villagers were cut off in winter and the communities developed their own customs, social systems and folklore. Not only is the snow heavy and wet, but the area has one of the largest snowfalls in Japan.
Sericulture, which required open space for silkworm beds and the storage of mulberry, took place on the upper floors, where a gable window provided light and air. Excrement from the silkworms was used in the making of gunpowder, which was carried out on the lower levels, with the saltpeter being stored for safety in a hollow beneath the ground floor.
Ogimachi, largest of the World Heritage villages, has a nearby hill with a viewing area which is popular with tourists. Of the 152 households, 59 are ‘prayer-hand houses’ subject to conservation, along with temple buildings, storehouses and canals. Some of the traditional houses are open to the public, either as museums or as places to stay overnight.
There were once some 1,800 prayer-hand houses but during the twentieth century numbers fell dramatically. By the 1960s there were only a few hundred left. Saltpeter and paper production ceased to be commercially viable in the late nineteenth century, and a hundred years later later silk production was in crisis. Households modernised or moved away, while dam developments put paid to whole villages. Only a concerted conservation movement by residents of Ogimachi was able to halt the process, and houses under threat elsewhere were relocated to the community. Now, the World Heritage listing comprises 59 prayer-hand houses in Ogimachi, 20 in Ainokura and 9 in Sugunuma. Also listed are associated shrines, temples, groves and storehouses.
Some of the houses are 300 years old. The construction of the frame was done by skilled professionals, but the roof structure was usually put up by the villagers themselves working together in a mutual self-help association.
The large attic spaces were ideal for the silkworm beds necessary for sericulture. Notice the straw rope tightly bound around the roof supports; no nails were used.
The two small World Heritage villages in Gokoyama have fewer visitors and retain more of a traditional atmosphere.
From Tokyo to Takayama, it takes 4.5 hours by train, and from there another 50 minutes by bus to reach Ogimachi (Shirakawa-go). From Tokyo to Kanazawa, it takes around 4 hours by train, followed by 75 minutes by bus. (Some buses require reservation.) In summer, buses running between Nagoya and Kanazawa also stop at Ogimachi.
With the loss of traditional means of support, many of the prayer-houses these days are open to the public. There are guest houses, shops, restaurants and museums of all types. Some museums display the lifestyle of former times while others focus on the tools and production methods of the cottage industries: silkworm beds, materials for saltpeter, the stages of paper making. There’s also an open-air museum at Ogimachi which consists of traditional housing complete with waterwheel and a prayer-hand shrine. Because of the isolation, the area developed a distinctive style of folk song and dance, and these are featured at a museum in Gokoyama.
Thatching the prayer-hand roofs is a huge undertaking. Traditionally, villagers would form collectives to complete the job in a day or two, so as to avoid damp getting into the straw. Nowadays, extendable aluminum ladders have replaced simple wooden ones.
The houses themselves, however, remain the prime attraction with their long wooden floors, open hearths and the beauty of the rice rope wrapped around the rafters. They display a keen sense of craftsmanship. The giant oak beams, for instance, were chosen from trunks that had curved with the weight of snow, because the wood would be sturdier and more resilient, while the buildings were constructed with a flexibility that allowed for earthquakes and severe weather. Built for the most part by simple villagers, the houses stand tribute to the affinity with nature that characterised the lifestyle of past generations in this remote area. In the words of the World Heritage citation, they are ‘outstanding examples of a traditional way of life perfectly adapted to the environment’.
On the ground floor are large hearths
