Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama

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**Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama**¹
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	Japan
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv, v
Identification	#734
Region²	Asia-Pacific
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1995 19th WH Committee Session
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/734
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan. Shirakawa-gō (白川郷, "the village of the white river") and Gokayama (五箇山, "the mountain with the 5 parts") are villages located at the north of Tokai region in the center of Japan. Gokayama is Toyama and Shirakawa-go is in Gifu.

These villages are well known for their houses of architectural style called gasshō-zukuri(合掌造り), the roofs of which are constructed with high thatched roofs, resembling hands joined in prayer. The houses in Shirakawa-go have steeply sloping roofs in order to allow rain and snow to fall straight off it. Indeed, mountains and the forests occupy 96% of the territory in the areas of Shirakawa and Gokayama, leaving 4% of territory for cultivation.