Time of the visit: august the 18th,2025

After some days in Takayama I took an early bus to Shirakagawa/Ogimachi where I put my baggage in one of the bus station's lockers.I had more than 6 hours time before my bus left for Kanazawa.

Shirakagawa is a popular place for organised bus trips for foreign visitors,mainly Chinese ones.

The town was overcrowded with tourists and felt more like a Disneyland village than a still inhabited country hamlet.

I decided to climb to the Ogimachi Castle observation deck first. My maps.me map showed me a small side path leading up, which was steep but easy to navigate. Once at the top, I saw a sign warning people to avoid this path because a bear with her cubs had been found there at 9:00. It was about 10.00.

The observation deck was already full with tourists taking pics or selfies or buying souvenirs.

From there, you get a good overview of the town. Then I followed the crowd down into the village, where I visited various historic houses( in the Gassho-zukuri style), as well as a small museum. The entrance fee deterred many Chinese tourists, so that the historic houses were relatively empty.

I also visited the Myozenji Temple and the Hachiman Shrine (both were closed).There, I came across a resting snake, of which I took a few close photos. I later learned that it was a mamushi, the most common venomous snake in Japan.

Before coming to Shirakagawa, I had already visited two gassho-zukuri houses: one in Yokohama and one in Takayama.

The one in Takayama's quite impressive Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village open-air museum isnt the most outstanding one,but the relocated one in Yokohama's beautiful Sankeien Garden was part of efforts to preserve and share Japan's cultural heritage, allowing people outside the mountainous regions to experience the unique architectural style and traditional lifestyle of Gasshō-zukuri houses. Visitors to Sankeien Garden in Yokohama can see firsthand the steep thatched roofs, spacious interiors, and wooden frameworks that made these farmhouses ideal for heavy snowfall regions. It’s a rare opportunity to appreciate rural Japanese architecture without having to travel all the way to Shirakawa-go or Gokayama.Besides a fire was burning inside that thatched house in Yokohama.I didnt see a single burning fireplace in Shirakagawa.The smoke from the fireplace rises through the large open attic space under the steep roof. This smoke helped dry harvested crops, like hemp or silkworm cocoons, stored in the upper floors. It also helped preserve the thatch roof, as the smoke keeps insects away and slows decay.

Whoever is in Tokyo or Yokohama and doesn't have the time to travel to the Shirakagawa region can see one of those thatched houses with his proper eyes in Yokohama's beautiful Japanese garden,one of the most beautiful ones in Japan.

Of course I also visited the Gassho-zukuri Minka-en open air museum in Shirakagawa-go.That visit was certainly my highlight and to my big surprise there were only a handful of other visitors inside the fenced area.The museum showcases dozens of relocated houses from that mountainous region to recreate the traditional way of life.Absolutely worth a visit.

All in all Shirakagawa was a very nice visit and experience, nothing less and nothing more.