Ainokura Gassho-style Village (Gokayama), Toyama

A World Heritage mountain village of 20 gassho-style farmhouses, sister to Shirakawa-go. Still lived in, and magical under snow or on light-up nights.

Steep thatched gassho-style house in Ainokura covered in deep snow — Photo: そらみみ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thatched Sonenji temple in snowy Ainokura seen from Jinushi Shrine — Photo: そらみみ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A World Heritage village where people still live

Ainokura is a hamlet in the Gokayama area of Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture. In 1995 it was added to the World Cultural Heritage list as part of the "Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama", together with Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture and one other hamlet in Gokayama.

Twenty gassho-zukuri farmhouses survive here, built roughly 100 to 350 years ago. What makes Ainokura special is that it is not just a sight for tourists: it is still a working village where people live their daily lives.

What is gassho-zukuri?

Gassho-zukuri is a style of farmhouse with a steep, triangular thatched roof (thatch here means roofing made from grasses such as Japanese silver grass). It is a very rare form of house, found in Japan only in this area.

Gokayama is a mountain area that gets a lot of snow, and the steep roofs are designed to shed its heavy weight. The large attic spaces were once used for sericulture, raising silkworms. Hemmed in by rugged mountains, the people of this region made their living from silkworms as well as from making washi (traditional Japanese paper) and ensho, a saltpetre used as a raw material for gunpowder.

Within the village you will also find a "genshi gassho", the only surviving example in Gokayama of the original, primitive form of gassho-style building, as well as a temple with a thatched roof.

Things to see and do

Inside gassho-style houses, the Ainokura Folklore Museum shows how people in the village used to live, and the Ainokura Traditional Industry Museum covers the history of local crafts such as washi. At the Washi Making Experience Hall you can try making washi yourself. The village also has souvenir shops, places to eat and minshuku guesthouses where you can stay the night.

The village is lit up a few times a year: in 2026 this took place on 12 and 13 September, and a light-up of the snowy village is planned for 20 and 21 February 2027. There are also "window-light viewing days", when you can admire the glow from the houses' windows (7 and 14 October 2026, and 13 and 27 January 2027).

Getting there

Take the World Heritage Bus to the Ainokura-guchi stop: about 25 minutes from Johana Station on the JR Johana Line, or about 1 hour 15 minutes from outside Takaoka Station. From the stop it is about a 5-minute walk. By car it is about 20 minutes from the Gokayama Interchange on the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway; the parking fee is used as a "conservation contribution" to help protect the village.

Tips

The houses in the village are people's homes. Please do not wander onto their land or into the houses uninvited.
Except on special days such as light-ups, sightseeing in the village ends at 5 pm (unless you are staying at a minshuku).
The snow-covered scenery is the highlight in winter, but this is deep-snow country, so bring non-slip shoes and dress warmly.
Dates for light-ups and window-light viewing days can change, so check the official Gokayama tourism website.