Gokayama

Gokayama and Shirakawa-go were inscribed together by UNESCO in 1995 for their gassho-zukuri farmhouses - steep thatched roofs pitched like hands in prayer, built to shed several metres of snow, with large open attics used for silkworm rearing. Gokayama has two hamlets, Ainokura with about twenty houses and Suganuma with nine, and they are much smaller and far less visited than Shirakawa-go over the prefecture line, which is the reason to come here instead. The valley's other history is gunpowder: under the Kaga domain these isolated villages produced saltpetre from a fermentation process using the earth under the house floors, which was a controlled and secret industry, and a museum at Suganuma explains it. Ainokura also keeps the kokiriko, a very old folk dance with a clattering wooden instrument, performed at set times.

What you actually see

• Gassho farmhouses - steep thatch built for metres of snow, with silkworm attics.
• Two small hamlets - about twenty houses at Ainokura and nine at Suganuma.
• The saltpetre history - gunpowder production under the house floors, explained at Suganuma.
• Kokiriko - a very old folk dance with a clattering wooden instrument.

When to go

May to October; January and February for snow. A day.

Honest expectations

Buses are infrequent and connections awkward without a car. Winter access depends on snow clearing. These are lived-in villages - some houses are private and residents ask for restraint with cameras. There is little food or accommodation.

Nearby

Shirakawa-go is south over the prefecture line; Takaoka is north.