This is a brief walking tour of Shirakawa-go, a World Heritage Site mountain village in Ōno District, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It's known for showcasing a building style known as gasshō-zukuri (Wikipedia: "The gasshō-zukuri (合掌造)-style minka have vast roofs that are a large form of the sasu structural system. Their name derives from the similarity of the roof shape to two hands in prayer. They are frequently found in Gifu Prefecture. The upper floors of the two- and three-story houses are used for sericulture, with storage space for trays of silkworms and mulberry leaves.").
Being less than 20 miles from the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the village is one of the snowiest places in Japan (yearly average snowfall over 400 inches), hence the practicality of the thick, pitched roofs. Watch it all full screen! Beautiful.
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