Gasshō-zukuri Minka-en - Ogimachi

Near the town of Takayama is this very unusual place. It is right in the middle of the mountains. The historic village of Shirakawa-go, is a world heritage site which includes Ogimachi populations, Suganuma and gathering Ainokura including Zukuri Gassho 150 original houses of 1500 he had initially. The most important of the houses is the Ogimachi house. It's an amazing, magical, that transports you to another era. The region was historic refuge for defeated and persecuted. It is totally advisable to sleep in a house Gassho traditional Zukuri. I stayed in the Minshuku Nodaniya. Most of the houses are lived in by Japanese families, and basically, there is no other experience like this.

As soon as you get off the bus in Shirakawa-gō you'll see right in front of you that there's a tourist office. A few steps above have the gassho-zukuri Minka-in. There's a museum which houses buildings Gassho-zukuri style, and you can go inside. Admission is 500 yen. During the visit you can see up to a dozen traditional buildings of Shirakawa-gō that were exported one by one to form this open-air museum. If you are lucky you're visit won't me marred bu such bad weather as we experienced when we went. You can take advantage of taking photos, pictures of a different and very traditional Japan. The museum is surrounding by a forest where you can have a picnic, but it is important that all waste is collected before leaving.