Gassho-Zukuri houses in Gokayama

The Shirakawa-go/Gokayama area is located in a remote valley in the rugged high-mountain terrain of the Chubu mountain region, which has particularly heavy snowfall. Due to the difficulty of access until recent times, the relations between this area and the outside world were very limited -- and this long isolation gave rise to the unique culture and traditional social systems, folklore and customs which have been handed down to the present day. At the center of this area is the Sho River, flowing from south to north along the deep valley winding through this range of 1500-meter-high mountains. Because of the steepness of the mountain slopes, most of the villages in this area -- including Ogimachi, Ainokura and Suganuma -- are located in the narrow strip of land along the river valley floor. In the past, in village after village we could see unique and beautiful landscapes with their clusters of Gassho-style houses set against the surrounding irrigated rice fields and dry crop lands, but now only these three villages which are inscribed on the World Heritage List still retain the traditional landscape.

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