Early
Summer Touring in the Japan Alps
Riding Tours
> Nagano > Day 4 Ride
Notes
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Shirakawago
One of the goals of this ride was, aside from playing on the Alpine skylines,
to actually see something cultural and learn something. We found a UNESCO
World Heritage Site hidden in the middle of Gifu prefecture, not too far
from where we would be riding during the tour, and also on the way back
to Tokyo.
Morning weather had a bit of rain during the night, and continuing drizzle
during the ride to Shirakawago, so we ended up checking out the town in
our rain suits. (Not a fetish, so no worries.)
It was mostly a mist, and the sun was coming out in splotches.
Made the road scenery look pretty cool on the expressway.
A short while later, we arrived at Shirakawago village.
There is a folk museum which has many of the older structures intact
and maintains them. Being in tourist mode this morning, of course, that's
where we started off to.
On the way, we came across this interesting blend of scenerey.
Hmm, seems we weren't the only ones who heard about the place. Actually,we
couldn't get reservations at any of the minshuku or ryoukan, which is
why we stayed in Tonami.
On the way to the folk museum, there was a small little
shrine tucked away here...
Another little structure on the way to the museum, prefaced
by a bed of tulips.
Another house, off to the side, that looked cool set against
the surroundings.
Crossing the river to get to the folk museum (in the lower
right corner), the moisture off in the mountains was starting to dissipate,
making these cool looking clouds.
At the folk museum entrance, they had this model of how
the structures were built. Pretty interesting.
This stone monument has an inscription worth reading. All
too often, we lose touch with our heritage.
This water wheel is connected to the mill. Pretty cool to
see it in motion.
A nice background. It was really cool to see the houses
combined with the new green of spring, along with the remaining snow on
the peaks.
This little opening was aroudn the back. Certainly not a sight to be
seen around Tokyo.
Not sure what the flower is, but this row of them made the scenery look
pretty colorful.
Towards the back of the folk museum, there's a section of houses that
have tulips planted in lines of beds. It really does make the area look
colorful in the late spring.
This building was being used as a wood-working shop. if
you look at the foremost section, you may be able to see the guy in there.
He was making the wooden propeller toys that you can launch by hand. Hand-carving,
I should say, making the prop blade and the spindle, and putting them
together.
Inside, was a collection of various wood-works. Some of them were pretty
cool looking, and some of them were strange to look at as they're no longer
used in daily life.
And then it was time to drive home. The rain had picked up, and we made
for the expressway. Although a sunny trip home would have been preferred,
we stayed warm and for the most part dry, so there aren't any real complaints.
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