Shirakawa

We have just returned from a true time warp – a weekend wrapped in 18th Century Japan. Shirakawa is famous for Gassho-style thatched-roof houses. You can check out some pretty good pictures at: http://www3.kiy.jp/~tourj/hida/shira-1.html

They are called "gassho-zukuri" type of houses and are located primarily in Shirakawago – especially since they’ve built a dam that covers most of the other areas where the buildings were once found. They did move many of the buildings to Shirakawa to create an open air museum where they show the homes, crafts and other activities from the 18th Century.
This style of traditional Japanese architecture means "praying hands." It comes from the shape of the roof which is thought to resemble two hands clasped in Buddhist prayer. The VERY steep roof is designed to prevent snow piling up on the roof, and it also keeps the inside relatively cool in summer. Absolutely no pegs or nails were used in their construction. The homes had an "irori" (Japanese hearths) in the main central area. They are small squares filled with sand where the people did their cooking and found warmth in the houses. The smoke from these hearths permeated throughout the gassho-zukuri, darkening the walls and wood over the years. Traditionally, the smoke was used to keep the silkworms warm (families used to raise silkworms in frames in the upper levels of the building). The smoke from the fires was essential to provide a protective coating for the pine and chestnut pillars and beams against insects. It also kept the thatching dry and insect free, meaning that the roofs were replaced every 40-45 years. Now they have to replace them every 20-25 years because they don’t last as long. So much for modernizing things….
Staying there was really an experience. The rooms are clean but very traditional. Tatami mats are on the floor everywhere and all of the walls were shoji screens with rice paper. They have hallways on the outside of the rooms – meaning that when the doors are all closed, there is trapped air and thus more warmth inside (warmth being relative, of course). They had the irori in the middle of the main room where we ate. They had a modern kitchen too cook in but they did have a small wood burning stove that kept the room quite toasty – well…at lest the half of you facing the stove. We ate a fabulous selection of traditional Japanese foods – things most of us had absolutely no idea what they were. Fortunately (for me) everyone else was a carnivore so they took the fish for me.
The beds were the traditional futons on the floor with warm, fluffy quilts pile up to keep you warm. We slept very well – even with the pillows filled with something along the lines of beans – rice husks maybe? The woman told us quite a bit about the house – with simple words and lots of pantomiming and acting out. The house was over 300 years old, though it has been added onto over the years. At one time the barn was attached to the house and they kept cows (mooing and horns told us this). Rooms were filled about 6 inches deep with straw – that made the bedding. They climbed up the ladders with milk on their backs – never did figure out why. She came to the house when she married…she hummed the wedding march. The family still lives in the house – the son and grandchildren on one side, grandma over nearer the kitchens. A very different lifestyle even today.