Ogimachi in Shirakawa-go

An early start this morning as we'd signed up for a half day tour to the World Heritage listed village of Ogimachi located in the Shirakawa-go district. We boarded the coach at the train station with the drive taking about one and a half hours and Aiko, our tour guide chatting away the whole time about all things Kanazawa and the history of Shirakawa-go. The scenery along the way was lovely especially as we reached the mountainous region of the Shogawa River Valley with the snow depth increasing.

We rolled into the mostly empty carpark at around 9.30am. Aiko informed us on the general layout of the village, highlights and that we had 2 hours to explore. First we had to negotiate the ice covered suspension bridge over the Sho River.

The crowds thinned out as we wandered along the eastern side of the village admiring the many gassho-zukuri houses. Ogimachi has over 100 of these century old traditional farmhouses famous for their steep thatched roofs which resemble 'hands in prayer'. We continued climbing up to the observatory deck, snapped a few photos and then returned back down to the village.

On the main road, we sampled Hida beef, a local delicacy which was truly delicious! With time to spare, we paid to enter the Wada house, the largest Gassho house in the village. Inside we marvelled at the clever architectural style with the roofs made withe the local cedar timber and without nails and designed to withstand large amounts of snow. We climbed into the spacious attic which was used for cultivating silkworms!

 

The influx of tourists was significantly noticeable as we wandered in and out of the shops on the way back to the bus. The carpark was now full and as we drove out of Ogimachi, there was a very long line of traffic waiting to make their way into the village!

The trip back to Kanazawa was slightly quicker as our tour finished near our place while most people remained on the bus as the tour continued on for the afternoon. 

We relaxed for a few hours then walked into town via the Omochi Markets, the undercover food markets which were in the process of closing for the day.There were a few stalls still open and we spotted snow crabs for sale. Snow crabs are a delicacy in Japan and are only available in the winter months. 

Passing under the Tsuzumi-mon gate, a large wooden gate symbolising traditional Japanese hand drums (tsuzumi), Andy headed inside to purchase the train tickets for the trip to Hakuba as our JR Pass had expired. Meanwhile I accompanied Katy for more shopping! 

Needing a break from Japanese food, we found an Italian restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner.