In Januar I visited Takayama and from there Skirakawa-go. Takayama has a historic area with a lot of old looking buildings.
The area is famous for Sake and for Hida beef.
This picture is showing a Sake shop. The big ball above the entrance is showing this.
We arrived on Saturday and it was snowing already.
A Temple, covered with snow and loads of snow, piled up next to it.
This alley of trees will look pretty, when its Cherry blossom time.
Here you see the reason for all the ropes, connected to the trees branches. They will help carry the load of the snow on the branches.
This one is in the garden of an old building, that is a museum.
Inside there is a typicall fire place for the area. The 'branch' is hanging from the ceiling and the fish, connected to it is very decorative.
Here you see one way to deal with the snow. This is a sprinkler system, using war water to melt the snow.
Of course we had to try Hidda beef. You can get it in different grades, yields and different cuts. Special A5 filet is the best.
On Sunday morning we were going to Shirakawa-go by bus. It still was snowing. Over night about 30 cm were falling.
Here one of the houses for which Shirakawa is famous.
The snow on the houses was pilling up high and on some roofs, they were taking down the snow. The old houses are built with very steep roofs, so that the snow can slide down.
In these houses the place below the roof is used for
A little river flowing through the village is used to get rid of the snow. The snow is thrown into the river and is floating away.
This is the inside of one of the houses' roof area. All connections are made with ropes. The ropes and the cover of the roof is replaced regularly. These ropes were replaced recently.
Looking from inside out
The bell tower of Temple is deeply covered with snow.
Finally, when we had to leave, the sun came out.
Inside of one of the historic buildings a fireplace. The smoke is going up into the roof area and is 'roasting' everything there.
Another picture with a lot of snow.
Here pictures of another way of getting rid of all the snow. In all streets in Takayama, there are little rivers, flowing below the streets. The covers of the river can be removed and the snow can be pushed in there to float away.
