Gassho-zukuri Farmhouses

Gassho-zukuri Farmhouses

Gassho-zukuri means "praying hands," and refers to the sloping gable roofs made by placing wooden beams together at a steep 60-degree angle to prevent snow from piling up. In the early 18th century, there were more than 1,800 of these mountain farmhouses between Nagoya and Kanazawa. The openness of the interior was multipurpose: a central hearth sent billows of smoke upward to cure meats and dry food placed on a metal grill suspended from the ceiling; the floor space was used to make gunpowder and washi (Japanese paper); and the triangular alcove on top was reserved for silkworm cultivation. Stables were connected to the living space, so no one had to go outdoors during the long, cold winter months.

Perhaps most intriguing of all, the houses were built without nails. Strips of hazel branches tied the beams together, giving the joints the flexibility to sway in the wind. Although modern Japanese no longer live in gassho-zukuri houses, many of these structures have been preserved in historic village settings. These villages, developed in the 1990s, have become increasingly popular tourist destinations, especially for domestic travelers. Of the 150 or so gassho-zukuri that remain, more than half are in the Hida Folk Village in Takayama and the Shirakawa-go Gassho-zukuri Village in Ogi-machi.