Today we drove out into the mountains, southeast of Kanazawa about 50 miles to visit some old historic villages that have what are known as "gasho" houses, which are A frame, wooden houses, usually three story, with thatched roofs. They were built back in the late 16th/early 17th century and use no nails whatsoever in their construction. They are completely held together by wood joined at strategic joints, and strong rope. The sharp slant of the A frame roof is important in this part of Japan because they get heavy snowfall and for the thatched roofs to survive they had to be slanted so that snow would slide off of them. Two villages, Gokayama and Shirakawago where we were today are UNESCO world heritage sites. The mountains are beautiful and these little old villages are quaint, nestled into the mountains. The original owners of these homes were farmers, and craftsmen, the main crafts in this area being making paper during the winter months and producing gunpowder. The paper is made from bushes indigenous to these mountains. The owners of the gasho homes, in their historic period were the "middle class" of their day. They were not, by any means, the elite, but the fact that they owned property and earned a living from it put them above the laboring classes.
We first stopped at Ainokura village in Gokayama, where we walked up to a lookout point where we could see the village nestled into the mountain. After walking around the historic village for awhile, we then went to a community center where we got a demonstration of how mochi is made. Mochi is a food staple in this part of Japan, made from pounding sticky rice until it becomes like a sticky dough. The rice is first cooked and then when it's hot, it is pounded with a large wooden mallet (it takes two people to do this part, one of whom runs the risk of having their hand clubbed!). It gradually goes from being something that looks like rice to a smooth, sticky dough, that resembles gnocchi! Then it is formed into small balls and covered with either soy sauce, other sauces, or dipped in a mixture of sesame powder and pepper. We got to try the mochi after we helped pound it, and it was delicious! Very filling too. It is a favorite food in this part of Japan, particularly at major holidays.
After we left the mochi place, we went to where the special Gokayama paper is made. The villagers of Gokayama have been famous for their special paper for hundreds of years. We saw a video that explains the whole process of making the paper from the bark of a bush that grows in these mountains, which is, to say the least, a very involved process. Towards the end, what ultimately becomes paper is a huge vat of white milky water (looks a lot like water left over after making rice!). They have special forms that they dip into this mixture a number of times and then they peel off the wet "paper" and dry it on metal plates. We each made three postcards from scratch, dipping the forms into the paper water and then decorating them and watching them be cut and dried. It was fascinating to learn about how this fine and special paper is made and fun to get to try it out!
After our paper-making expedition, we went to lunch in a small restaurant on the edge of the river in Gokayama. Three women own it and they were terrific hostesses. They prepared for us a meal which is traditional in those mountain villages, with soba, a special noodle that they prepare, tofu, made fresh, and lots of mountain vegetables, a lot of which I did not recognize, but they tasted good all the same! While we ate our lunch we were treated to some traditional songs and dance by the proprietors of the restaurant.
From there, we went to a 400 year old Gasho house, the Murakami House, still owned by descendants of the family who originally owned it. It is a good sized gasho house, complete with hearth in the middle of the ground floor, a Buddhist altar and Shinto shrine, a garden and two upper floors, containing many antique tools and implements that were used to make gunpowder which was the way the family that owned the house made their living. We had a chance to walk all over the house, including up the narrow ladders to the second and third floors. Those homes were brilliantly made, and they are remarkably cool, with large windows facing north and south which catch the mountain breezes that blow north to south. We got a talk about how the villagers made their living in the 17th/18th centuries when these homes were first built, including a description of how gunpowder was made. Apparently, they first had to grow some exotic bacteria which later become a key ingredient in the gunpowder! Who knew? The gentleman who gave us the lecture is a descendant of the family that originally owned the home. He dressed in traditional costume, which in earlier centuries would have been the normal attire of the owner of the home, and even today is still worn by the villagers for festivals and holidays. He did a traditional dance for us.
We then went to Shirakawago, another gasho house village in the same mountain range. Like Gokayama, it is still inhabited by descendants of the original owners of the gasho homes who continue to make their living farming and engaging in traditional crafts. We walked through this village and I hiked up to the lookout point which was not a long walk, although it was hot and I was pretty soaked with sweat by the time I got back to the bus. The heat did not feel so oppressive today out in the mountains, but in the hot afternoon sun, I was reminded that we were still dealing with triple digit heat!
When we got back to Kanazawa to our hotel, we discovered a street fair/party going on right on the main street in front of our hotel. The street was cordoned off and there were dozens of dance troupes performing one after the other. I stood there for nearly an hour watching the festivities, and after I left and went to dinner and returned to my room I looked out and they were still at it! The street was packed with folks watching the dancing and there were street vendors selling food and they had picnic tables set up in the street for folks to sit at while they ate. I chose to go to a restaurant (I wanted air conditioning!) where I got a filet mignon dinner with miso soup and rice and a draft Japanese beer. They serve the meat on a hot metal plate so that you can cook it to your liking! They pre-cut it into slices which helps a little when trying to eat it with chopsticks, but believe me it was a challenge to eat a steak without a knife and fork! I'm getting better at chopsticks but they do prove challenging at times!
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