20 houses with 60-degree roofs, UNESCO since 1995: this is Gokayama (Toyama), not Shirakawa-gō.
The ‘gasshō-zukuri’ houses (the name comes from hands joined in prayer, after the shape of the roof) have a roof pitch of 60 degrees: steep enough to make the heavy, wet snow of the Shōgawa valley slide off instead of piling up. Twenty remain at Ainokura, built between the Edo and Taishō periods, in a village that is still lived in on the slope above the river. A viewpoint ten minutes' walk from the car park looks down on the whole village, and it is the spot from which the village is photographed under snow.
Historic village in the Gokayama area, in the municipality of Nanto, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 together with nearby Suganuma and with Shirakawa-gō. Shirakawa-gō, however, is in the neighbouring prefecture of Gifu: these are three separate villages in two different prefectures, joined in the same UNESCO inscription.
ℹ️ The village can be visited freely, with no closing days. Paid car park (1,000 yen for a car, 3,000–5,000 yen for a bus). Some houses can be visited as small museums, with their own ticket. Source: Gokayama-Nanto tourist board.
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Nearby
Ainokura Village (Gokayama)2 kmphoto by くろふね · CC BY 3.0
Suganuma Village (Gokayama)3.8 kmphoto by そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0
Shirakawa-go Village19.3 kmphoto by lienyuan lee · CC BY 3.0