One-day-tour of Shirakawa-go
Joined 2015
Shirakawa-go is a mountain settlement that is famous for uniquely designed Gassyo-style buildings and registered as one of the World Cultural Heritage sites. In Ogi-machi, over sixty Gassyo-style buildings will welcome visitors. Enjoying the whole landscape of the village from the hill, you will stroll around the village visiting some traditional Gasho-style buildings such as Wada House, Nagase House and Myozenji Temple Museum.
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
At JR Takayama Station or Shirakawago bus terminal
9:30 JR Takayama station (meeting point)
10:40 Shirakawa-go (Ogi-machi) bus stop
11:10 Observatory
The observation point on the hill provides you the best place to overlook the whole landscape of the village of Gassho-style houses. You will get the best of photogenic view.
12:00 lunch break
You will enjoy a variety of local cuisine such as Hida-beaf, Gohei-mochi and Japanese backwheat noodles etc.
12:40 Wada House
This is the largest three-story Gassho-style house in the village, which was constructed in around 1800. The second floor and some parts of the first floor are open, and a variety of artifacts and traditional daily-life items are exhibited.
13:20 Nagase House
This is one of a few five-story houses and the big thatched roof is impressive. Visitors can see the footage-video of re-thatching roof and learn the details of the process with some documents and pictures.
14:00 Myozenji Temple Museum
The Gassho-style buildings of Buddhist temple are open for visitors as a museum, consisting of three parts; residence, main hall and bell tower gate.
15:00 Tea break
15:30 Shirakawa Hachiman Shrine
This shrine enshrines the general god protecting Shirakawa-go. The site of the shrine is very calm and good place for travelers to take rests, not disturbed by other travelers.
16;00 Shirakawa-go bus stop
17:30 JR Takayama Station
Ending Point
At JR Takayama Station or Shirakawago bus terminal
Want to personalize this tour?
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Inclusions & Exclusions
Guide fee and hotel pick-up
Transportation(bus) fee about 5,600yen/person for both guests and guide
Lunch & coffee fee about 2,500 yen/person for both guests and guide
Entrance fee about 1,200yen/person only for guests
Tour Important Information
1) If you stay in Kanazawa, it is possible to meet on the Shierakawago and start the tour.
2) If you want, it is possible to arrange plans including visiting Takayama city.
Important message from the supplier
I can guide in Kyoto in case you support transportation fee.
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Joined 2015
About Tour Guide Tetsuji Y.
Hello everyone. I am Tetsuji. I worked as a public servant in the local government for 35 years. I belonged to the department of Redevelopment, Town-Landscaping, Preserving historical areas and Architectural Guidance. (I have a national 1st-class architect license.) I devoted myself to revitalizing the city by making plans and improving infrastructure for citizens.
Gifu is located in central Japan near Nagoya. As just being the crossroads of the West and the East, there are many unique attractions that are hard to discover in hectic big cities like Tokyo or Kyoto. I had a hand in restoring and preserving some of them throughout my career and want to introduce them to tourists from abroad. That’s why I became a guide-interpreter in Gifu.
I also enjoyed traveling around the world. My favorite part of each trip was walking around the city and talking with local residents. Traveling has taught me lots of things during my lifetime. Now, I would like to help others have similar experience in Japan. Shall we enjoy fantastic journey in Gifu?
Reviews
Rowena S.
“Great Experience”
Hello Tetsuji san, just wanna thank you for taking care of our guests, they had such a great experience during their tour. And it was also a smooth arrangement with you. Looking forward to work with you again in the future.
Tetsuji Y.
Thank you for a nice review to me. I am also looking forward to working with you again.
Sophie B.
“Very nice and flexible guide”
We planned months in advance a day with Tetsuji. When we arrived in Japan we realised it would be raining all day. We asked Tetsuji if he could propose an alternative because we were supposed to be outside all day. He came with a good back up plan. It was really appreciated. We have a nice day together and I would recammand it.
Tetsuji Y.
Thank you for your appreciation. I hope that you would come back to Japan again in order to hike Nakasendo with me under the blue sky. I will be waiting all of you. Please give my best regards to Martin, Pauline and Adrian.
Sherry W.
“The most wonderful day!”
Tetsuji-san the kindest, most thorough tour guide I think I have ever had the pleasure to know. His pre-trip questions and planning for a personal level of interest led to showcasing his wide range of knowledge for the Gifu area and more than completely fulfilling my requests for things to see. It was a day neither I nor my family will ever forget. Tetsuji-san knew where to go for the local beauty of the blooming cherry blossoms, introducing us to the Kagamigahara area away from the usual crush of visitors. There were many local festivals, the impressive Kinpozan Shoboji Temple with the beautifullly preserved indoor Buddha, the hilltop Gifu Castle via the tramway and steep steps that gave a fabulous view of the entire region, the heritage Minatomaci street that maintains the architectural history of the Endo (?) era ( but includes some wonderful shops with locally made artistic items, and more. Thank you so much, Tetsuji-san! ( my photos don’t seem to be loading up here… but you will have plenty to take on your own if you choose this wonder guide)
Tetsuji Y.
I appreciate that you gave me a chance to organize a fantastic tour. The moment you set a pebble on the corner of the site, I felt IKIGAI (生き甲斐) in my mind. I truly thought that I might have been born to share unforgettable moment with you. I surely think this 'Nostalgic tour' is an epoch-making commemorative event through my guiding career.
$133/ per group
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