Gassho-zukuri Minkaen Open Air Museum

Shirakawa-go Gassho-style House Museum is an open-air museum that preserves and exhibits 26 gassho-zukuri buildings, including 9 structures designated as Important Cultural Properties by the prefecture. The grounds feel like a small village, featuring not only main residential houses but also grain storehouses (itakura), stables, waterwheel huts, and other diverse buildings—some of which can be entered and viewed inside. Folk tools and daily-life items that were actually used are also on permanent display. Among them, the Former Yamashita Yoro Family House is one of the few 18th-century gassho-zukuri houses still existing in Shirakawa Village. From mid-April to late October (limited period), visitors can join hands-on experiences such as making straw sandals with straw crafts, making coasters with hiede craftwork, and soba-making from kneading the buckwheat flour through to eating. The site also includes a soba dojo where you can enjoy handmade soba in an open, airy space that uses the first floor of a gassho house as-is, plus a shop. Every autumn, a light-up event is held, letting visitors enjoy night views as the scenery transitions from lush summer greenery into autumn foliage.