We started our day with the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Japanese hotels that cater to tourists usually have a nice breakfast buffet with a selection of both western and traditional Japanese offerings. When in Japan, I enjoy trying Japanese items that I don't often eat back home.
Shirakawa-go is almost an hour from Takayama, where we stayed the night. My father-in-law had arranged for a taxi to take us there and bring us back. Kai slept much of the way there, leaning on Mom who in turned was pressed against me. I felt squished against the side of the cab for the duration of the ride.
When we got near Shirakawa-go, we stopped at an observation area where we could see the entire village below.
Shirakawa-go is a small, traditional Japanese village famous for the gassho-zukuri houses. Gassho-zukuri means constructed like hands in prayer, as the farmhouses steep thatched roofs resemble the hands of Buddhist monks in prayer. This roof style withstands the large amount of heavy snow that falls in the region in the winter.
The roof is almost three feet thick. The whole town comes together to help build each roof.
We got to see the inside of several houses.
We could see how the roof was supported from the inside.
The following shows the view from the top floor of one house.
It was another hot day, so we got cold snacks including shave ice and ice cream.
I showed Kai that if you wet your cap in cold water, your head cools off for a little while.
We also cooled off by wading into the cold water.
There was a lotus pond in front of this house.
We had lunch in the village at a noodle shop. Kai had nameko mushroom with his udon noodles.
And then it was time to take the cab back to Takayama, where we would take the 3:00 pm bus back to Tokyo. It was another long ride.
The mountain areas were gorgeous. It's hard to take good photos from a moving bus, but here are a couple to give you an idea of the landscape.
And one photo to give you an idea of how narrow that mountain road was. Barely enough room for two buses to pass.
It was a long day, but we got to see some gorgeous new sights.
And now we're back in Tokyo!
Wow...that was a very nice look into traditional Japan. I loved the look of that village. What a winter wonderland that must be when it snows.
ReplyDeleteKai is getting a great real world education by experiencing it in person.
By looking at the way villages are constructed and laid out...it tells you much about the attitudes and mores of a society.
We saw photos of the village in wintertime and it does indeed look spectacularly beautiful. They say they get a lot of visitors in the winter for just that reason, but I would hate to drive that road if it snow.
DeleteI think there is a lot of cooperation in the village. We saw photos of many people on top of a house working together to re-thatch the roof.