Hida no Sato

Hida no Sato is a “traditional house reservation”, located a bit south of Takayama itself. It is a village that has been constructed from various old (and I do mean old) homes in Japan. Some of the homes were built in the 1700’s and the floors were packed dirt. Most were constructed without any nails at all and they all had hand made shingles on the roofs. In fact, they still do. While fire is the bane of all wood homes, it also was a source of preservation for these old homes, keeping bugs and rot from ruining the roof. Some of the straw gassho style houses have roofs that last 60 years!!!
Suppose I should remind you what the gassho style house is. It is the same as the ones in Shirakawa (Nov. 04). They are made from thatch that is hand tied onto huge frames. In the very high attics, people often dried things or raised silkworms. The area was very poor and most farmers worked hard to make ends meet. Silkworms was a source of income though, according to the notes, no one remembers the task of caring for them fondly.