The Hida Folk Village (Hida no Sato) is a collection of traditional village houses dating from the 18th through the early 20th centuries. Many of them were moved here to preserve them when waters from a nearby hydroelectric dam eliminated a number of old villages.
Many of the houses contain people engaged in traditional crafts. Few of them speak English. I’m not sure what this guy is doing. Something to do with silk production perhaps?
The house of the village head family has rooms separated by shouji panels that can easily be removed to create a large room for village meetings.
Wood block printing.
A simple rural shrine.
A woodcarver.
The sign on this display provides an alternate interpretation of beckoning cats, according to which the color of the cat determines what it is beckoning for. I don’t know whether this is a regional difference in the folklore or whether it is something some marketing people came up with in order to sell more cats.
Looked at the first few of these and they are MARVELOUS. And you look so happy. Love, Mom