Visit Ogimachi Village, Gifu, Japan

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Around the time of its formal inscription as a World Heritage Site (August 1994), Ogimachi contained 152 households and had a population of 634 people. Documents from 1876 showed that the Ogimachi Village had 99 households at that time, and was the largest of 23 villages falling within the Shirakawa-Muri. The central part of the village is on a terrace on the eastern side of the Sho River, some 1500 metres in length and 350 metres wide, and is at an altitude around 500 metres.[1]:48 Most of the farmhouses are separated from one another by plots of cultivated land. A network of small roads some 2 to 4 metres in width connect these houses and date back to the Edo period. A more dominant, 6m-wide roadway runs north-south through the centre of the village, and is more recent, having been constructed in 1890. Those houses built on steep ground near the base of the mountains are situated on small terraces, supported by stone walls. Property boundaries tend to be defined by the network of small roads, so the village has an open nature to it. Most land plots for either rice or grain production are very small, with larger plots of land found on the north and south side of the village. A Shinto shrine which houses the deity that guards the village is located on the south-central part of the village. There are also two Buddhist temples of the Jodo Shinsu sect.[1]:48 117 buildings and seven additional structures are included in the designation of 'historic buildings of Ogimachi Village' to be preserved. Amongst these are 59 Gassho-style farmhouses, mostly constructed between the end of the Edo period and the end of the Meiji period. (ie early 19th to early 20th century). All the ridges of these Gassho-style houses are aligned parallel to the Sho River, thus creating a unified and attractive village scene.[1]:48–49

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