Shirakawa-Go, Traditional Village in JAPAN

Located in the Shogawa river valley and under the remote Gifu mountain range, there are villages that have been more than hundreds of years old, Shirakawa-Go Village. The village is known for its unique form of the traditional house called Gassho-Zukuri, being one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Japan has many UNESCO Heritage sites, but Shirakawa-Go Village is one of the best in Japan. Shirakawa-go has been crowned as a UNESCO cultural heritage in 1995. This tourist village is located at the foot of Mount Haku and in the Shokawa river valley, nearly 96% of the area of Shirakawa is forest and has incredible natural scenery.

Geographically, this Shirakawa-go village was formerly an isolated and unexplored area. Not only because the place is below the foot of the mountain and surrounded by forests and mountains, but some areas of Shirakawa Village are often covered by thick snow when the winter comes.

Gassho-Zukuri, a typical traditional house in Shirakawa-Go, has a unique architectural style. Having the characteristics of a long steep thatched roof down, for the people there, the shape of the roof shows the shape of the hand that is praying in Buddhism.

But actually, the unique shape of the roof is also very useful when snowing thick in the winter. When you see a broken roof in one house, the people there will work together to rebuild the roof of Gassho-Zukuri.

In winter, the whole village of Shirakawa-go will be decorated with light from beautiful lights that add to the beauty of this village for tourists who visit.

And in the summer, even though the village is in the river climbing and at the foot of the mountain, the air is very cool compared to other major Japanese cities. It is the right time to visit Shirakawa-Go

In Shirakawa-go, you can also visit temples and museums where you can enjoy Doburoku, an unfiltered Sake, which is offered to the gods on the mountain for good harvests.

Sake is very special because you can only enjoy it in Shirakawa-Go, and not in other locations in Japan.

Only a few tourists who know about the existence of this special Shirakawa-go village, become a valuable opportunity for you to visit Shirakawa-go, the mountainous nature of Japan that captivates the wisdom of a local culture that has been preserved for hundreds of years.

You will be presented with the natural beauty of the surrounding which is amazingly beautiful and feels how to live in the countryside with unique traditional houses. In addition, you can also enjoy living in traditional Japanese houses in gassho-zukuri style and will be treated to a variety of delicious Japanese traditional foods.

There are several things that you must do, some of which are: the Gasshozukuri Minkaen Outdoor Museum, the Tajima House Museum of Silk Culture, the Myozenji Temple Museum, the Tenshukaku (castle keep) Observatory, the Doburoku Matsuri Festival Hall, and the Jin Homura Art Museum.

But there is one more thing that is most mandatory and you should not miss at Shirakawa-go, which is night gazing! Yup, you have to enjoy the view of the Shirakawa-go tourist village at night, because you can see the beautiful traditional settlement at night and star gazing. Shirakawa-go has a magnificent view of the star-studded sky at night.

Shirakawa-go is now one of the tourist spots that many tourists visit, so access to it is very easy. Shirakawa-go is located in the northwest of Gifu Prefecture. You can rent a private property or you can also use public transportation.

If you use a car, you can follow directions for directions via maps with the search for "Shirakawa-go". If you choose to use the train, you can go through Tokyo train station to the Toyama train station, then head to Shirakawa-go by bus. You can reserve a bus first to make sure when is the time of departure so you don't miss the bus departure schedule.

How about it Looks exciting not on vacation enjoying the scenery and also traditional life in the historic village of Shirakawa-go? If you intend to come here, make sure to prepare everything well. Have a good vacation!