Today we woke up early and set off for the mountain in Gifu Prefecture
It was a long drive, about 5 hours.
We made a few stops before we reached our destination, Shirakawa-go.
This is a very ancient town which was listed as one of the world heritage.
It was classified as world heritage as the houses there was built in the unique Gassho-style.
The houses have been there for like more than 200 years.
The roof was a huge A shape, made of grass bundled together to about a foot thick.
It took about 500 abled men to build the roof in a day.
It is a custom to finish building the roof in one day.
The A shaped roof allows good air ventilation as well as enabling the snow to fall off during the harsh winter month.
We stayed at this family run bed & breakfast.
There was nothing to do at night, we just sit round the fire place and talk.
The owner came by to chat with us and told us a little bit about him.
The house was passed down from his grandfather to his father and eventually to him.
I just wonder whether his children would want to inherit this family heir loom.
5 months of harsh cold winter and 3 months of very hot summer. That's a tall order to inherit the property.
No comments:
Post a Comment