🌸SHIRAKAWA-GO🌸 Must visit at least once in your lifetime | 世界遺産 白川郷合掌造り集落 | 一生に一度は行かなければなりません

🌸SHIRAKAWA-GO🌸 Must visit at least once in your lifetime | 世界遺産 白川郷合掌造り集落 | 一生に一度は行かなければなりません

Ohayou-gozaimasu everyone. The time now is about 5 minutes past 6. The weather about 10° in the morning but in the afternoon it will rise to about 24°. Very drastic. Today I’m going to the magical Shirakawa-go via the express bus which is opposite my hotel. Platform 4, Shirakawa-go. Oh, luckily I made advance reservation via the internet. Shirakawago is full. Today morning first 2 (error: 3) trips, the buses are fully booked. The reason for reserving a seat in the first bus is because the coaches will arrive at the village around 9 to 10 a.m. If you want exclusive picture or filming without noises and crowd, you have to target the first bus. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the magical, the UNESCO World Heritage destinated village Shirakawa-go! I am finally here. And this is the 2nd reason why I come to Takayama this time this year. I’ve just alighted from my bus. That was the first bus. So again, if you want to able to get a bus, a seat, it’s best you make a reservation. The houses here, they are built in gassho-style as you can see. Gassho-style means it looks like the hands of a praying buddhist. In Chinese, we called it 合掌。 My first pit-stop, I’m going to the observation deck. I believe is to turn left from here. There is supposed to be a paid shuttle service to take you up and down the observation deck. But probably we are very early in the morning, it’s still not in operation yet. Ya, this is the way to Observation Deck. Well, if the shuttle service is not in operation, I’ll just walk up. Let’s go! Look at the, is it, some sort of straw material they use for their thatched roof. I’ve reached the Observation Deck. Kanda House Kanda house belongs to the Kanda family who was known for brewing sake. It has four floors. You can see tools for silk cultivation in those days. But it is not open yet until 10am. Alright, I am going to stop talking for a moment and immerse you into the beauty of Shirakawa-go. Okay, I like to make a donation to the shrine. Let’s cross the Sho River via this Ogimachi Suspension Bridge. This is another marvelous experience here at Shirakawa-go. Across the other side, there is a gassho-house museum . There are many tourists crossing over to my side because these tourists come with tour coaches parking across the river. In contrast, my express bus terminates at the Tourist Association. So when these coaches arrive, I’ve already recaptured best view of the village. So guys as you can see, all the tour buses they are here. But if you stay in Takayama, you can catch the first express bus to Shirakawa-go and you don’t have to face such, take a look, massive crowd. Okay, I’ve reached the open-air museum (of) gassho house. Within the open-air museum, there are numerous gassho houses, store rooms, water mills and other buildings essential to village life scattered across a beautiful landscape of greenery and water. Excluding transportation to and fro the village, you will need at least 4 hours to explore the entire village. Due to my miscalculation, I only catered for 3 hours and as a result, I couldn’t visit few of the houses and to have tea or lunch in the village as planned. My express bus is departing and it is time for me to return to Takayama. I truly enjoy my first visit to Takayama and Shirakawa-go. I hope to revisit again and if I do, it will be during winter time!

Shirakawa-go is a picturesque village nestled in the remote mountains of Gifu Prefecture in central Japan. It’s renowned for its traditional Gassho-zukuri farmhouses, characterized by steep thatched roofs that resemble hands in prayer (“gassho” means “hands together” in Japanese). These houses are designed to withstand heavy snowfall, which is common in the region during winter. Shirakawa-go is a must-visit destination for travelers interested in traditional Japanese architecture, rural life, and natural beauty.

白川郷（しらかわごう）は、日本の岐阜県中部に位置する、絵画のような美しい村です。この村は、急な茅葺き屋根が特徴的な合掌造りの農家が集まることで知られています。”合掌”は日本語で”手を合わせる”ことを意味し、屋根が手を合わせた祈りのように見えるのが特徴です。冬に多い豪雪に耐えるために設計されたこれらの家屋は、非常に興味深いです。白川郷は伝統的な日本の建築、農村生活、自然美に興味のある旅行者にとって必見の場所です。

This video covers:
0:00 – Introduction
0:55 – Express bus (1st bus) to Shirakawa-go
2:27 – Ogimachi Castle Observation Deck
4:52 – Immerse into the beauty of Shirakawa-go
7:08 – Hachiman Shrine Shirakawa (白川八幡神社)
7:31 – Crossing Ogimachi Suspension Bridge (であい橋)
7:54- Tips on avoiding crowds from tour buses
8:37 – Shirakawa-go Gassho-Zukuri Minka-en
9:40 – Goodbye Shirakawa-go, goodbye Takayama!

Music by Oleksii Kaplunskyi from Pixabay

“Keys Of Moon – Blooming Melody” is under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license
https://www.youtube.com/c/KeysofMoonMusic
Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: