The Village of Shirakawa-go

Shirakawa-Go is part of the Shokawa Valley in Gifu Prefecture. The main attraction of Shirakawa-Go is the Ogimachi Village featuring the 59 gassho houses, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 along with the villages of Ainokura and Suganuma in Gokayama, Toyama Prefecture.

These houses are known for their unique steep thatched roofs shaped like gassho or “praying hands” and interestingly, no nails were used to build the roofs. Most families in these villages were involved in silkworms cultivation and produced silk until the 1970s.