Hida Folk Village (飛騨の里, Hida no Sato) is an open air museum where over 30 traditional houses from the Hida region, the mountainous district of Gifu Prefecture around Takayama, are exhibited. The houses were built during the Edo Period (1603 - 1867). The houses were relocated from their original locations to the museum in 1971. The museum features buildings like the former village head's house, logging huts, storehouses and a number of gassho-zukuri farmhouses. The open air museum has a village like atmosphere. These massive farmhouses are named after their steep thatched roofs which resemble a pair of hands joined in prayer ("gassho"). They were moved here from nearby Shirakawago, where gassho-zukuri houses are the reason for the region's World Heritage status.
