The gassho-zukuri farmhouses of Shirakawa-go take their name from the Japanese word for hands pressed together in prayer, which describes the steep angle of their roofs. That pitch was not ornamental but essential, engineered to shed the heavy seasonal snowfall of the Japanese Alps before it could collapse the structure beneath. Some of the surviving farmhouses date back several hundred years. Families lived and worked across multiple floors, using the upper levels for activities such as silk cultivation. The village was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of how completely this building tradition and its surrounding landscape have been preserved together.

The view is at its most spectacular in January and February, when snowfall is heaviest and the mountains behind the village are fully dressed in white.