July 27 - Ann and I thoroughly enjoyed a recent visit to Shirakawa village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Gifu prefecture. This picturesque but remote village has preserved over 100 "gassho zukuri" straw-roof structures that stand amid verdant rice paddies and vegetable gardens. We stayed in a small family-run inn at the center of this village so we could experience living under a thatched roof, even if for just one night.

The women who ran our inn served us a delicious dinner cooked on a Japanese hearth, or "irori." We enjoyed tempura mountain vegetables, grilled sweet bait (ayu), a dish of shallots, mushrooms and miso paste grilled on a heat-resistant leaf. There was also tofu, miso soup, rice and pickles. Our hostess proudly told us that the rice and vegetables all came from her family farm, and the mountain vegetables were gathered nearby.

As she served our delicious meal, she told us that life had been hard for her mother and grandmother in the village. Each winter over three meters of heavy wet snow fell, so clearing the straw roofs and the roads required hard labor. Each year, her mother and grandmother raised silkworms in the spacious attic to earn some cash. They fed them mulberry leaves grown on the mountainside. Our hostess told us that the silkworms emitted a very distinctive smell. On quiet nights as she lay on her futon in the dark, she could hear the caterpillars rustling overhead. In the fall, a dealer would arrive to purchase the silk cocoons. So much work for such a small amount of cash!

Nowadays buses from Takayama arrive in Shirakawa village after just a one-hour trip, but the village was not always this well connected. Our hostess told us that after she finished junior high school, she moved to Takayama to continue her studies. In those days it took two-and-a-half hours over a narrow mountain road to reach Shirakawa village, so she only returned home during school holidays.

Today, her own children take a bus each day over a modern road to their school in Takayama. Life has become much easier for Shirakawa village residents, but Ann and I are glad that this village continues to preserve its history.

Until next time,

Jim