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Shirakawa-gou
Lens: DA 16-45 Camera: Pentax K7 Photo Location: Shirakawa-gou 
Posted By: RobG, 01-04-2011, 04:47 AM

The Gasshou style buildings in Shirakawa-gou are UNESCO World Heritage listed.


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01-04-2011, 09:22 AM   #2
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Would love to hear more about the building. What it was used for, how old it is, etc. Nice shot.
01-04-2011, 07:39 PM   #3
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Interesting structure, like Susan said, give us some info, thanks Bob
01-04-2011, 08:52 PM   #4
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Neat stuff; depending how close you can get to them (or in them) they look like great photo subjects!

JAL Guide to Japan - Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama ( World Heritage )

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A Gassho-zukuri is a house with a steep thatched roof, far larger than an ordinary Japanese house. One of the main reasons why the locals build houses in this way is to make snow removal easier due to the amount that falls locally. Another, lesser known reason is to provide a large enough space inside the house for the cultivation of silk worms. Most house owners make the most of their inner space and use up every square inch by dividing it into several, sometimes up to five, levels.
Using the house so efficiently is quite rare nowadays in a Japanese farmer's house and the scenery surrounding the area in which these grandiose houses are set is also rare, most unique and unparalleled throughout Japan.
For the most part, the gassho-zukuri houses stand side by side and are surrounded by rice paddies and fields. Once, such beautiful scenes were commonplace along the Sho-kawa River. However, the number of gassho-zukuri houses has decreased sharply in recent decades affected by local dam construction and the fashion for more convenient modern housing. This did bring about one plus point though as all this change made people realize what they were in danger of losing. To that end, a preservation movement was started and fifty nine gassho-zukuri houses in Ogimachi village in Shirakawa-go, Gifu Prefecture, twenty houses in Ainokura village and nine houses in Suganuma village in Gokayama, Toyama Prefecture have now been designated as World Heritage Sites - added to the list in 1995.


01-06-2011, 05:16 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by legacyb4 Quote
Neat stuff; depending how close you can get to them (or in them) they look like great photo subjects!

JAL Guide to Japan - Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama ( World Heritage )
Thanks for linking the info! You can walk around them and several are museums which show what it was like to live in one in the past. I have other photos of things like the fireplaces and various implements like the materials for producing silk.
01-06-2011, 05:20 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by slowpez Quote
Would love to hear more about the building. What it was used for, how old it is, etc. Nice shot.
This small building is a barn or storage shed, but others are huge houses with enormous lofts used for storage and workspaces. Thatching the roofs is a communal exercise from planting, reaping, drying the rice, then actually thatching the roof. The thatching is about 30cm (1 foot) thick.
01-06-2011, 05:25 AM   #7
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Here's a couple of larger buildings from the museum section. In this part of the village, houses have been relocated from the surrounding area to preserve them.



01-06-2011, 09:13 AM   #8
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Thanks for adding more info about these fascinating buildings. I love the last shot Rob.
01-06-2011, 04:15 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by slowpez Quote
Thanks for adding more info about these fascinating buildings. I love the last shot Rob.
Thanks Susan! I'm glad I went there!
01-07-2011, 10:07 PM   #10
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Agreed; the snow makes them look like time stood still and never advanced!
01-08-2011, 03:13 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by legacyb4 Quote
Agreed; the snow makes them look like time stood still and never advanced!
Despite the thick thatch, they would still be horribly cold to live in. Having said that, most of the buildings now have the screens removed which divided the floor space into smaller areas; they would also help to keep in the warmth. The village looks quite nice in spring also from the photos I've seen.
01-08-2011, 08:31 AM   #12
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marvelous shots rob..... a real treat to see something so different... a wonderful cultural/historical exchange..... another place i'd love to visit some day... thanks... dave m
01-08-2011, 03:32 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by dcmsox2004 Quote
marvelous shots rob..... a real treat to see something so different... a wonderful cultural/historical exchange..... another place i'd love to visit some day... thanks... dave m
Thanks Dave! I highly recommend visiting Japan! A fascinating culture and history.

Rob
01-08-2011, 07:20 PM   #14
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Lone Shieling

The old one burned down. This one is about 30 years old. Located in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a replica of a Scottish Sheep Crofter's Hut. A similar kind of structure, Eh.
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01-08-2011, 11:11 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Sparkle Quote
The old one burned down. This one is about 30 years old. Located in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a replica of a Scottish Sheep Crofter's Hut. A similar kind of structure, Eh.
Similar in terms of the thatching, certainly, but the buildings in Shirakawa-gou are entirely made of wood and bound together with rope as well as using dovetail joints. I don't think they use nails. I'll have to post a photo of the interior of one of the lofts.
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