Ogimachi's gassho-zukuri farmhouses—their thatched roofs angled at 60 degrees—were engineered to shed four metres of snow each winter without collapsing under the weight. The triangular silhouette, which translates as "praying hands," allowed multigenerry families to cultivate silkworms in attic workshops while rice paddies and hemp fields anchored the valley floor below. By the 1970s, depopulation had reduced the village to fewer than 600 residents, and demolition crews were clearing farmhouses for modern housing. In 1976, Ogimachi became Japan's first preservation district under the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and in 1995 UNESCO inscribed Shirakawa-go and neighbouring Gokayama as a single World Heritage site, recognising the last remaining cluster of gasshō architecture in the Japan Alps. Today, 59 gassho-zukuri structures remain standing in Ogimachi, the largest concentration in Shirakawa-mura. The oldest, Wada House, dates to the mid-Edo period and opens its interior to visitors: you climb steep wooden stairs into the attic where silkworm trays once lined the rafters, and peer through small windows cut into walls nearly half a metre thick. The Kanda House and Nagase House preserve similar layouts, each charging a modest entry fee to fund roof rethatching—a process that requires 200 volunteers and occurs once every 30 to 40 years. The village's position in the Shogawa River valley, flanked by peaks exceeding 1,800 metres, creates a microclimate that delivers heavy snowfall from December through March, the same conditions that shaped the roofline geometry three centuries ago. A kanazawa to takayama bus tour typically allocates 90 minutes to two hours in Ogimachi, sufficient to walk the central district and visit one or two house interiors. The route between Kanazawa and Takayama spans roughly 140 kilometres, threading through the Hakusan foothills and descending into the Hida plateau. Most tours depart Kanazawa between 8:00 and 9:00, reach Shirakawa-go by mid-morning, then continue to Takayama in the early afternoon, though some itineraries reverse the sequence. Kanazawa to Takayama bus tour tickets provide reserved seating and eliminate the need to navigate the Nohi Bus network, which requires a transfer at Takaoka and accepts no advance reservations during peak seasons. The highway bus covers the same distance in less time, but scheduled service offers no commentary and no guaranteed coordination with Ogimachi's opening hours, which close house interiors at 17:00 daily.