Gasshō houses
Steep thatched roofs.
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An open-air museum of nearly thirty old farmhouses showing the traditional building styles of Japan's mountain regions, many of them moved here from their original sites to save them. It sits on a hillside overlooking the Takayama valley around a large pond, about 2.5 kilometres southwest of the station. Its highlights are the steep thatched gasshō-zukuri houses, designed to shed heavy snow, alongside houses with wooden shingle roofs. The buildings are 100 to 500 years old, and four are Important Cultural Properties of Japan. Many houses are open, filled with the tools of old rural life: spindles, silkworm-raising gear, cooking pots, clothing and sunken irori hearths. Workshops show the region's well-known crafts, such as wood carving, dyeing, weaving and lacquer work. Tickets are 700 yen, and it opens daily 8:30-17:00, per visitor guides. A bus from Takayama Station takes about 10 minutes; the village is loveliest in autumn, with maples around the pond, and under winter snow.
Steep thatched roofs.
In autumn.
Open workshops.
Kamiokamoto-machi, on a hill southwest of Takayama
It gives a good picture of gasshō-zukuri houses and rural life in one place near Takayama, but Shirakawa-go is a lived-in World Heritage village; each has its own character.