At Suganuma, on the Shō River, 9 gassho-zukuri houses remain, with roofs pitched at 60 degrees to bear the snow; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since December 1995 together with Ainokura.
The village, smaller than Ainokura, is part of the same UNESCO site, ‘Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama’, inscribed in December 1995. The houses keep the 60-degree roof pitch typical of the gassho-zukuri style, needed to bear the weight of the snow, and the thatched roofs are still redone with the traditional cooperative system called yui (結). The site also preserves traces of the area's historical activities: saltpetre production, silkworm breeding and papermaking.
Historic village of gassho-zukuri houses in the hamlet of Suganuma, municipality of Nanto, Toyama Prefecture, on the bank of the Shō River. Note: like Ainokura, it had been rejected in an earlier campaign for Gifu; the official sources (Gokayama Info, the Nanto tourist portal) place it in Toyama, not in Gifu. It is part of the UNESCO site ‘Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama’, inscribed in December 1995 together with Ainokura. It has 9 gassho-zukuri houses; the designation also includes the surrounding woodland.
ℹ️ No visiting hours or admission ticket appear in the sources consulted; the site only documents the traditional activities linked to the village (saltpetre production, sericulture, papermaking).
🚉 Suganuma · 4 min walk
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