About 2 hours drive from the historic city Kanazawa, is a small village called Shirakawa. This is a UNESCO declared heritage and certainly a worth visitas it takes you back into history.
This gassho a house where a family lives and works, is impressively maintained and has artifacts from the last 300 yrs.
As you enter, you are welcomed by the owner, who is a grand mother and lives with three generations in this impressive house.
The living room with the central fire pit is well kept. As seen in that era there was no ventilation and the constant smoke has turned the wood in the high ceilings black.
You then climb the two floors of the gassho which shows the large area where people used to work with silk worms to make artefacts for trade.
As you come down hot tea that is made with the hot water from a kettle that hangs from the ceiling over the central fire pit in the living room.
This visit takes you back in time.
Yes it's pretty and the weather has let us down, however, for us it was not worth the overnight stay
Walking around it was hard to believe that we were just a few hours away from one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world.
This UNESCO heritage site is nestled in a valley surrounded by beautiful greenery and streams of clear water. It's idyllic, peaceful and charming. To appreciate the uniqueness of these Gassho zukkuri houses... A bit of reading or a helpful guide would be useful. I recommend entering one of the houses (for a fee) and seeing the structure from inside for yourself . Also at the nearby observatory which our tour group visited prior to actually coming down to the Village, a few youngsters were running a small photography business. But they are really generous and offer to take your photo for free, with your camera as well. You don't have to buy the photo they take in their camera but it doesn't hurt to try.. In my case it came out really well so I bought it.. As a souvenir of this lovely place.
Very unique place with superb view of snow covered mountains and Cherry Blossoms. Several unique shops
