Last updated on January 5th, 2025
A few hours from Tokyo, Suganuma gassho-zukuri Village is a world away from modern Japan. It’s also the least visited of the villages included in the Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama UNESCO World Heritage Site. As such, you will feel as if you traveled back in time whenever you visit. However, I discovered that a rainy spring afternoon is particularly magical.
A quiet rainy day in Suganuma Village.
What is a Gassho-zukuri village?
Gassho-zukuri villages are rural communities where houses were traditionally built with wood and topped by a steeply sloped thatch roof.
Large upper-floor spaces provided additional living space and space to raise silkworms.
This traditional architectural form is extremely rare. Even in the 19th century when it was most common, these wooden houses with their steeply pitched thatch roofs were only found in the Japanese Alps.
Forms of gassho-zukuri houses were popular from about the 17th century up until early in the 20th century. They were a practical way to address local conditions, as they could be constructed entirely from local materials and their form stopped the region’s heavy snows from building up on rooftops until the roof collapsed. As a bonus, the large attics resulting from this design proved to be an excellent place to raise silkworms, making silk production an important source of income in the region.
These houses remain today largely because this area was extremely isolated until the 1950s. That made modern architectural styles – and the materials needed to construct them –slow to arrive. However, the 150 or so remaining gassho-zukuri houses are a tiny fraction of those once found in more than 90 villages throughout the region.
Gassho-zukuri means “praying hands construction.” The name comes from the idea that the thatched roof looks a bit like hands clasped in prayer.
Gassho-zukuri construction
These large, multi-story buildings are constructed entirely by lashing the pieces together with handmade rope. No nails are used!
Under the roof in a gassho-zukuri house I toured in Shirakawa-go.
The rice straw used for roofing is a surprisingly sturdy building material. A good thatch roof can be three feet thick and last more than 40 years. (That’s longer than most modern shingles!) But it also requires a village – usually more than 100 people — to replace it. See what that looks like on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
These houses are generally dark and smokey inside. Despite the threat it presents, a fire generally burns in at least one hearth at all times. The smoke helps preserve the house by drying and sealing the thatch roof and the ropes that hold everything together.
The main floor includes both living areas and work spaces. Additional living areas are located on the second floor as needed, with the silk worms and items needed to feed and care for them in the upper levels.
The interior of a gassho-zukuri house museum in Shirakawa-go.
Besides space for daily tasks and processing silk, these houses often had work spaces for processing salt nitrate for gunpowder and for making paper. (Like silk production, processing salt nitrate was an important industry in Suganuma.) Spaces for these tasks were often dug into the earth at a level slightly below the main living space.
A quiet afternoon in Suganuma Village
I arrived in Suganuma on a drizzly afternoon after spending much of the day at the slightly larger gassho-zukuri village of Ainokura. (Which is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage site.)
From the direction we traveled, the village was clearly visible in the valley below us as we approached. Of course, I wanted to pull over right then and there to take a better look, so, once we found the parking area, really checking out the view was priority one!
Suganuma Village sits in a valley near the Shō River.
We weren’t exactly sure how to get down to the village, so we followed the main road to a smaller access road where the parking lot used to be located. Along the way we enjoyed some lovely views of the Shō River as it wound through the mountains on the other side of the village.
It’s a beautiful area!
(On the way back up the road after our visit, a golden eagle flew by as we took in the view one last time. It seemed like a blessing of some sort.)
Suganuma is the smallest of the gassho-zukuri villages included in the Shirakawa-go and Gokayama World Heritage Site. (Suganuma and nearby Ainokura are both located in Gokayama.) The village has nine gassho-zukuri houses and a couple of more modern houses. The Gassho-zukuri houses located here are about 100 to 200 years old.
One of Suganuma’s beautiful old gassho-zukuri houses.
As in other gassho-zukuri villages today, the mulberry trees that fed the silkworms are largely gone. Instead, the villages have small plots of rice, grain, and vegetables.
The village includes small rice fields and gardens amid the houses.
Suganuma is a real village in that people live here, in these houses. (Several “villages” are open air museums where buildings were relocated to recreate the look of a historic village, but no one actually lives there.) Many residents offer tours of their homes, run restaurants, or sell snacks and souvenirs, although only a few seemed open on this rainy afternoon.
Some houses have created shops on the main level where you can purchase snacks and souvenirs of all types.
But that was ok. I didn’t need to do any shopping or visit another museum or even tour another house. And we could do a traditional dinner at our lodging when evening came, so we didn’t need a snack or tea break. Just wandering and looking at the beautifully crafted buildings, the budding trees and spring blossoms, and the surrounding mountains was enough.
What makes Suganuma special is the peace you can find in this bit of Japan’s past. I wanted time to savor that . . . and to admire a few more cherry blossoms!
Some cherry trees were still in bloom when I visited.
Plan your visit to Suganuma Village
I didn’t plan my visit here very well, as I didn’t realize the site has two separate components (Suganuma Village and the relocated houses of Gokayama Gassho no Sate) connected by a tunnel. That’s ok, because we visited other gassho-zukuri houses, villages, and museum sites as we wandered through this part of Japan. But I would have checked out the Gassho no Sate area had I realized it was there. (I did see this area from the road above as we left, and the site looked a little lonely, but photogenic.)
Getting to and around Suganuma
Suganuma Village is in a very rural, mountainous area northwest of Tokyo. Both Suganuma and the gassho-zukuri village of Ainokura are part of the Gokayama region. Sometimes they are described simply as Gokayama, but both are north of Gokayama city. (Iwase-ke, the largest and one of the oldest Gassho-zukuri houses, is in the city of Gokayama.) The Gokayama villages are more isolated and difficult to get to than much larger Ogimachi/Shirakawa-go farther south. That means the more northerly villages are far less crowded.
I’ve summarized key transportation info below, however, the Suganuma website has detailed transportation info that mostly translates to English. The Japan Guide also has good information on getting to Suganuma, but you need to follow a number of links to get all of it. On either site, double check rail and bus schedules before traveling to ensure you have the current routes and timetables.
Take transit to Suganuma
There is no rail service to either Suganuma Village or the rest of Gokayama. The best connections from outside the region are via rail to Toyama, Kanazawa, or Takaoka, and then by bus to Shirakawa-go and/or Suganuma.
Of these options, only Takaoka has a bus that stops at Suganuma without first going to Shirakawa-go.
That bus is the Kaetsuno Bus World Heritage (Sekai Isan) line. You can check schedules and (at least in theory) buy tickets right on the Kaestsuno website. (It’s in Japanese, but Google will translate it). Post-COVID schedules are still rather limited and it is unclear whether the World Heritage pass requires advance reservations or if they are just recommended. (My hotel seemed to indicate an advance reservation was required, but I don’t see that requirement online.) Travel time between Takaoka and Suganuma should be under an hour, depending on what bus you take.
Suganuma has two bus stops on either side of the parking lot. The one closest to the gassho-zukuri village is the Gokayama Suganuma stop. The other is the Gassho no Sato stop. Buses don’t always stop at both, so make sure you know where you need to be to catch the right bus to get to your next destination.
Drive to Suganuma
While it may seem crazy to rent a car and drive in a country as famous for its train system as Japan, many rural areas (including Gokayama) aren’t very well served by transit. So, once you leave major cities, having your own vehicle can make travel much easier.
We rented a car in Kanazawa and drove to Takayama over the course of two days. Along the way we stopped at all three gassho-zukuri World Heritage villages and the Iwase-ke house.
We could have taken the expressway for much, but not all, of our touring in this area. Instead, we stuck to scenic side roads where there was little traffic and it was easy to stop wherever we wanted.
While it was a little hard to find specific overlooks I wanted to visit, good roadside signage made it easy to find all the gassho-zukuri villages, museums, and significant stand-alone buildings. All roads we were on were in good condition (although there was some road construction) and the driving was relatively easy even for Americans used to being on the other side of the road. And the scenery was great.
Book a tour that includes Suganuma
Suganuma is a little trickier to get to than the bigger and better-known gassho-zukuri village in Shirakawa-go. (That’s why there aren’t any crowds.) If logistics aren’t your thing, booking a tour is possible, although most package tours bookable through businesses like Klook skip Suganuma.
From Takayama, Willer Bus and Nohi Bus jointly offer a day tour that visits Suganuma and Shirakawa-go. You can book on either website, but Willer’s site looks a little more user-friendly. (I haven’t used either site to book anything, so am just going by design and readability.) These tours are well under $100 per person and include lunch.
Private tours through Tours by Locals or other sites where local guides market their services are the most personal, but tend to be quite expensive in Japan. And, at least at this point in 2023, it doesn’t appear tours to Suganuma are actually available again.
A few full-service Japanese tour companies also offer day tours from Takayama or Kanazawa that include Suganuma. However, pricing for these is not transparent, as you usually need to contact them to find out what a tour would cost.
In the future, more options may be available. Japan just reopened to foreign visitors late in 2022 and not all tours available before covid are up and running again.
Tips for exploring Suganuma Village and Gokayama Gassho no Sate
There are two pieces to this site: Suganuma Village and Gokayama Gassho no Sate.
Suganuma Village is a real village where people live. A couple of houses sell crafts and souvenirs. There are also a couple of restaurants and a tea room, although none appeared to be open when I visited. Two buildings serve as museums: The Saltpeter Museum and the Folk Museum.. The Saltpeter Museum has exhibits on processing salt nitrate for gunpowder. (Along with silk production, this was once a key industry in the village.) The Folk Museum features a variety of items once used in daily life in the village.
Gokayma Grassho no Sate is a collection of six traditional gassho farmhouses that were relocated to a site near Suganuma Village to preserve them. Today most are used as lodging for school groups, although a few can be rented for the night. None are open to the general public, but the buildings look good and the overall setting is lovely.
These two sites are separated by the mountainside, but are connected via a tunnel. An elevator makes it easy to move between the parking area and the two sites in the valley below. To get to Suganuma Village from the upper parking lot (the lower lot isn’t usually open to private vehicles) either take the elevator or walk to/from to the village.
- To walk down and take the elevator back up, follow the main road from the parking lot down into the village and return the same way. To return via the elevator, follow the small road leading out of the village (below the parking area) to the tunnel. From there either take the elevator back up to the parking area or continue walking to Gokayma Grassho no Sate.
- Taking the elevator down from the parking lot brings you down to the tunnel. From there the village will be through the tunnel to your right and the relocated farmhouses to the left.
You are welcome to wander through both areas pretty much as you please. However, in the village, stay out of private spaces, including yards and gardens. And don’t enter any building unless it is clear that it is open to the public or you are specifically invited in!
Hours and Fees
The site is usually open daily except right around the new year. The two museums are open between 9 am and 4 or 5 pm. You can stop by earlier or later, but nothing will be open and visitors are NOT welcome after sunset or early in the morning.
Small fees (cash only) are charged both to park and to enter the two museums.
The village has several festivals during the year when it is beautifully lit. Some of these also include traditional music.
Want to spend the night in a gassho village?
If you think it would be fun to spend the night in a gassho-zukuri house, that’s an option even in (or very, very near) tiny Suganuma.
While there don’t seem to be any accommodations right in the village, Gokayama Gassho no Sato does seem to have cottages that can be rented for the night. Learn more about renting a cottage on the Gokayama Gassho no Sato website. At least one of the guest houses can also be rented through the Stay Japan website.
You’ll have a few more options in nearby Ainokura, where a number of homes now serve as minshuku (a typical Japanese lodging). You can see reviews for most of them on TripAdvisor (affiliate link). When searching TripAdvisor (or any other site), they are easiest to find if you specify “minshuku.” (The link should do that for you.)
You have a lot more choices in Shirakawa. You can find a options and reviews on TripAdvisor (affiliate link) for a bunch of them. While many are listed as minshuku, a few are listed under ryokan, so be sure you are looking for both terms on other sites.
When is the best time of year to visit Suganuma?
Suganuma is in the mountains and weather conditions vary considerably throughout the year. Winter brings cold, cloudy weather with lots of snow or rain. Much warmer and slightly drier, sunnier weather can be expected most of the rest of the year. However, this area gets a lot of precipitation throughout the year, so heavy winter snow is replaced by regular rainfall throughout the year.
Unless you are visiting during the very warmest part of the summer, bring more warm clothing than you think you will need. And plan to bring a rain jacket or umbrella at any time of year.
Spring
Spring usually arrives in Suganuma a few weeks later than in Tokyo. That means you may still find cherries and other spring blooming trees in full flower in Suganuma in late April – after the cherry viewing season ends in Tokyo. I visited in mid-April and many cherries were in full bloom; others look as though they were at their peak a week earlier.. (A few camellias and magnolias were also still in bloom, although they were fading quickly.) Most fields were still pretty barren, but the flowering trees and shrubs, along with the fresh green of new leaves and buds on the trees made for some really lovely scenes. (By mid-May the rice patties are being filled with water for planting, which would be really lovely too.)
March and April can be pretty cool, with highs in the 50s and 60s. May and June are about perfect, with temperatures generally staying in the 70s. And, although rain is still a regular occurrence, spring is usually the driest time of year.
It was cloudy and damp on my visit, but the next day was hot and sunny in both Gokayama and Shirakawa-go.
Summer
The summer landscape should be lush and green. This is when you’ll see lush crops of rice in the fields and flowers blooming everywhere. While Japan is generally known for hot and humid summer weather, it’s cooler in mountain villages like Suganuma. But expect some rain as well.
Summer temperatures can get up into the 80s, although it usually cools off overnight.
Fall
Fall would be a gorgeous time to visit, with beautiful colors. As with cherry blossoms, expect leaves to start turning here before the fall color season hits Tokyo. They’ll start changing soon after evening temperatures begin dropping in September. The fall color lasts through October.
Besides colorful leaves, the weather in September and October tends to be very comfortable with lows in the 50s and 60s and highs in the 70s.
Winter
While you might not expect Suganuma and the other gassho-zukuri villages to attract a lot of winter visitors, many see winter as the best time to visit. That’s because the villages are particularly beautiful with snow on the houses. Winter brings many feet of snow and special lighting is used in winter to make the villages glow at night.
Expect snow by mid-December and continuing into February or even March. However, there is no guarantee that you’ll see snow at any particular time during the winter. With temperatures that often remain near freezing, rain is also a possibility. And rainy weather will wash most of the snow away.
When it does snow, it turns the villages into a wonderland, but makes roads hazardous. Some may close after a particularly heavy snowfall, so always check the weather before you go and prepare accordingly.
For more information
The official Suganuma webpage is in Japanese, but definitely worth checking. While it uses images for some text (which Google can’t translate), once you click on a text image, most pages open with text that can be translated. It has a lot of good information, including transportation information, but it’s not clear how often it’s updated. Double check with other sources whenever possible before traveling.
The city of Toyama has an easy to read page on gassho-style houses.
If you are looking for inspiration or a virtual trip to Japan, Pico Iyer has a beautiful 2015 piece on a winter visit to nearby Ainokura Village.
See more photos from Japan’s Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama UNESCO World Heritage Site at CindyCarlsson.com
