Historic Villages of Shirakawago and Gokayama

Embracing World Heritage By Makoto Miyazaki Daily Yomiuri Photographer

Balancing tradition, everyday life

The mountain range stretching from the northern Chubu region to the Hokuriku region--home to 2,702-meter-tall Mt. Haku--receives some of the heaviest snowfalls in Japan.

The range also is home to two areas designated in 1995 by UNESCO as the "Historic Villages of Shirakawago and Gokayama" World Heritage Site.

The two areas are Shirakawago in Shirakawamura, Gifu Prefecture, and the Gokayama area in Nanto, Toyama Prefecture. The Shirakawago area includes the Ogimachi district, and the Gokayama area is home to the Ainokura and Suganuma districts. Both areas are famous for a type of house built in the gassho style, with steeply pitched thatched roofs meant to handle heavy snowfall.

The roofs are said to resemble hands clasped together in prayer, which is what "gassho" means.

The renowned German architect Bruno Taut stayed in Japan from 1933 to 1936 to study the architecture of Japanese houses and wrote many books on Japanese houses and buildings.

In his book "Rediscovery of Japanese Beauty," Taut said gassho-style houses had a very rational and theoretical structure and were a rare type of structure for a commoner to live in.

At the end of the 19th century, there were more than 1,800 gassho-style houses in 93 districts in the Shirakawago and Gokayama areas. Today, only about 160 of these houses are left.

Of Japan's 13 World Heritage Sites, the Historic Villages of Shirakawago and Gokayama is the only one that recognizes not only the scenery of the site, but also the lifestyle of its inhabitants.

Because of this, it is a daunting task to balance the daily lives of local people and the site's preservation and tourism promotion efforts that often inconvenience them.

The Shirakawago area has more than 100 gassho-style houses with about 600 people in 150 households living in the area. There are many souvenir shops in the area, and it has become a significant tourist spot.

But the Ainokura and Suganuma districts have only two souvenir shops each, and only about 100 people in 30 households call the area home. Most of the home owners are company employees, and people in the districts mostly place priority on their daily lives rather than promoting tourism.

While still placing priority on day-to-day needs, the Suganuma district decided to emulate the Shirakawago district and in 2002 started a campaign to promote its gassho-style houses in winter to attract more tourists.

"We want to develop this district in our own way, while continuing to place importance on our daily lives," said Shinsho Sakai, a member of the organizing committee of a campaign that helped the Ainokura district illuminate its houses this winter.