Shirakawa-go

*Warning : Pictures galore post*

The bus ride from Takayama to Shirakawago took about 50minutes, which was a pleasant ride. Along the way, we pass a particular water dam, which was really really huge and the trees and grounds were still covered in snow which made it a really pretty sight.

They actually had maps of Shirakawa-go in Takayama Bus station which showed every single house/accommodation on the map, so that was really really helpful for us. The bus station is actually on lower-land in comparison to the village itself. To get to the village, we had to cross a suspension bridge that lies over Shokawa River.

View from the suspension bridge

Shirakawa-go, the Oga-machi gassho style village was registered to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. It is located in the mountainous region of the Gifu Perfecture, famous for it's greatly slanted roofs - like praying hand stance (again). There is many places for visitors to stay in Shirakawa-go, to experience the life and to visit the beautiful place. We stayed in a gassho style minsyuku, Hisamatsu, after reading some reviews online. True enough, it was a good choice.

Hisamatsu Minsyuku

Hisamatsu is located on the north side from the bus station, about 10 minutes with our luggages. The walk was easy, slightly uphill but paved roads. But then again, the place wasn't covered in snow when we were there :( . It was a good thing that we brought the map with us as there wasn't a single word in English when we arrived at our accommodations. But once we were greeted by the owners of the place, the service was excellent. Hisamatsu is run by a local family, who lived in the same place as we did. While we were there, there was a grandfather, his wife and his daughter (I think).

Our rooms

We had a room to the 4 of us, laid on tatami mats. It was a pretty decent room, considering where we were. There was heater at the bottom of the table which made sitting at the table really comfortable in the cold weather! Apart from the table heater, we were also given 2 electrical heaters. After settling in the room, we were then called to have dinner, which was really really good! Dinner was in the room opposite ours, and there was a hearth at the centre in the room which was already lit hence the strong smell of burning wood in the room.

The grandfather keeping the hearth's fire going.

Lighting up the fire for the beef

Our 9 course dinner :) ! *Highlights - Vegetable tempura, Hida beef and fried fish*

Food was really yummy - and they had hida beef as one of the courses (!!!) , and one of the members of the family stayed with us at all time, keeping the fire in the hearth going to keep the room warm, and also talking to us. While their English wasn't great, it wasn't bad as well. It was a pretty fun time although we had to grab our Japanese dictionary after a while! Hehehe.. We also managed to get directions from them to the hot spring there. *We only did one day without a hot soak and I was already missing it!!*

We made our way to the hotsprings in the dark after dinner. In the dark, as there was hardly any streetlights and there was no road signs! The ladies in our minsyuku actually handed us the torchlight when we asked for directions, LOL. It cost 800 yen per person to enter the onsen, but if you asked your accommodation for a coupon, the rates are then 500 yen per person :). The onsen is actually located in Japanese Inn called Shirakawa-go no yu, which is just after a petrol station. A really pretty onsen place, somewhere that I would definitely go again for 500 yen! Especially since I can spend hours there :).

Hallway to the onsen

After that relaxing soak and bath, we went back to toasty blankets at night. The heater on the table frame was left on overnight to keep us warm. I personally think it is a good invention, although at some points during the night, I had to move my legs away from the table. :P. We woke up to a cold cold morning (and still no snow!!), but to a very warm breakfast. Breakfast was served at 730am in the same room where we had dinner. Fire at the hearth was already going strong (I think it started at about 6am as the smell of burning wood started then), and the room was fairly warm in comparison to ours.

Boiling water at the hearth

6 course breakfast - steaming hot soups are always welcomed!

Delicious mushrooms mixed with miso paste!! :) *I can eat them EVERYDAY*

After the filling breakfast, we made our way to visit the highlights of the village as we needed to catch the noon bus to Kanazawa. The main places to see in Shirakawa-go is the 3 houses : Kanda House,Wada House and Nagase House, the lookout point : Shiroyama Point and Myozenji Temple.

Myozenji Temple was located just opposite where we stayed, but was unfortunately under renovation so we didn't actually see the place. As it was only 8 am when we started walking around, we decided to head towards the lookout point, which is usually inaccessible when there is heavy snowfall. However, as there was NO heavy snowfall when we were there, we had no trouble getting up there. *I am still sore over the fact that there was barely any snow when I was there :(*

Walking towards Shiroyama Viewpoint
The Gassho style house

When taking a walk around the village, one need to observe all the houses as they were all so pretty on the background (though I think it would be wayyy prettier if it was covered in snow!!). The other thing to look out when walking along the village is their drains, as unappealing as it may sound. The sizes of the fishes in the drain are huge!! It may even be bigger than the sizes of the fishes you see selling in the market. Most of them were carps, but there was one that we think might be salmon *keyword : we think - as I personally don't think they live in drains :P*

View of the village from Shiroyama Point

It was good timing by the time we left the viewpoint, as all the houses were open when we got down. They didn't cost that much, 300 yen to each house, so we went to all 3 of them. Though to me, they were all somewhat similiar to each other. Most of the houses, including Hisamatsu had 3-4 levels, but the family usually only stays on the ground floor.

Isn't the view just gorgeous??

Inside one of the houses

Outside one of the houses

The upper floors are usually used for rearing of silkworms as the owners of our accommodation told us. It is too warm and smoky to be staying on the upper floors due to the fire from the hearth that is used to heat the house up. All the houses in Shirakawa-go were built in the gassho style due to the heavy snowfall that they usually get. The way the roof is builted, the steepness of it, and the thickness were all catered for the snow and cold weather. Apparently the roofs need to be replaced every 30 years, and it becomes a work of the whole village when one needs to be done. There is no wages paid during those times, the owners only need to provide food for the volunteers and as payments, they would need to help out when someone else's house needs their roofs replaced :).

See how thick the roofs are!!

The famous 3 houses that is always on postcards *we think*

By the time we finished at Nagase House, we walked on to several souvenir shops so that I can find a fridge magnet for my travel collection, and then we had to brisk walk our way back to Hisamatsu to collect our luggage before heading to the bus station as we we running late. But I still had time to do this :

Picture of pothole/manhole cover (creative aren't they?)