Ainokura is the smaller, quieter sibling to Shirakawa-go, tucked at the head of a side valley in the Gokayama district of Toyama prefecture. About twenty houses stand in the steep thatched gassho style, a name that means hands pressed in prayer and describes the roofs, which are steeply pitched to shed heavy snow. Inside, big wooden frames are lashed together with rope and not nails, and the top floors were built for silk and, famously, for making gunpowder ingredients. The remote location mattered. The Kaga domain, which ruled the area, valued the saltpetre, and the valley was a quiet place where people could make it out of sight. The village forms part of the UNESCO listing with Ogimachi, which is the bigger one.
The road in is the story. From Fukumitsu or Nanto, you wind up the Sho river valley along Route 156 and then onto smaller mountain roads that thread between cedar slopes and over bridges above blue water. The curves are steady and the gradients mild until the last climb to the village. In the shoulder seasons the road can be wet and shaded all day. Winter closes parts of it, and snow is heavy, often three metres or more in the deepest months, so spring through autumn is the riding season. October brings colour, and June brings rice fields so green they are almost fluorescent.
Nanto, sixteen kilometres away, is the place for fuel. Higher up the valley, stations are few and close early, and the village itself has none. There are a handful of small restaurants and guesthouses in the area, and a local favourite worth ordering is the tofu, which is dense and firm in the mountain style, along with soba and river fish. Toilets and a car park at the entrance cost a small fee.
Come in the late afternoon, once the day-trippers have left. The thatch glows, the light drops into the valley, and a communal folk song named Kokiriko, said to be one of the oldest in Japan, is still sung at festivals in the autumn. The village feels like a place where people actually live, because they do. Walk the paths slowly, keep out of the fields and do not step into private doorways.