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Many Japanese folktales I heard when I was little began with pretty much the same sentence: Mukashi mukashi arutokoroni ojii-san to obaa-san ga sundeimashita (Once upon a time there lived an old man and his wife...).  They often lived by a mountain, near a river, or in a remote village and lived a very simple life in a traditional Japanese house.

Although I have had chances to see many towns and villages in Japan throughout my life, none really matched the image of one conjured up in my mind from those folktales.  I had never felt "this is it " until I visited Shirakawa-go recently in the northern Gifu Prefecture.

Situated at the foot of Mt. Hakusan, the area surrounding Shirakawa-go is quite mountainous and the Sho River runs through it.  Many old houses with a huge, thatched roof are built in the traditional and rare gassho-zukuri style (see more paintings of Shirakawa-go).

They do receive many tourists especially after the whole village was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, but it is still possible to get a glimpse, from the villagers' lifestyle and the environment they live in, of how life used to be in Japan a long ago.

Shirakawa-go, Gifu, Japan IV

Click here for an enlarged view.

Media: Original watercolor on paper

Image Size: 8.25 x 11.5 inches (21 x 29 cm)
Mat/Frame: No
Purchase: Sold

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