Hida Folk Village (Hida no Sato) — Open-Air Museum of Farmhouses

Hida no Sato (飛騨の里) is an open-air museum preserving over 30 traditional farmhouses relocated from across the Hida region and reconstructed in a hillside park setting. The buildings include gassho-zukuri thatched-roof houses, storage barns, a shrine, and workshops demonstrating regional crafts (weaving, woodwork, straw rope-making). Unlike static museum displays, Hida no Sato is interactive — visitors enter the farmhouses, climb to the attic floors, watch artisans work, and observe seasonal activities (rice planting in May, harvesting in September, snow removal in January).

The museum's layout follows a walking path through forested grounds, passing ponds and gardens that contextualize the rural lifestyle. Volunteer guides (some English-speaking) explain construction techniques, family structures, and how multi-generational households functioned in snowy mountain isolation. The largest building, Wakayama House, is a four-story gassho structure that housed 30+ people and demonstrates the scale of Edo-period communal living.