Shirakawa-go Tajima House Sericulture Museum

Because Shirakawa village is a narrow and mountainous farmland with poor soil and heavy snowfall, silk farming, called sericulture, was a precious source of income.
The old Tajima House with its “Gassho-Zukuri” architecture is the only facility that exhibits artifacts related to the sericulture industry, which is no longer active in Shirakawa village today.

Shirakawa village’s silkworm cocoons were known for their high quality, and were traded at a high price. They were even used to weave the famous Nishijin-ori textiles of Kyoto.
“Gassho-Zukuri” architecture creates a large attic space, where residents made the best use of this structural feature by using it for sericulture.
This exhibit reproduces the attic, which was stabilized with bundles of rope, and the placement of the actual tools that were used back then, create a nostalgic ambience.
Videos are also on display that make it easier for visitors to understand the history.
Shirakawa village has established a sericulture restoration project for the future, and as part of that they are now breeding silkworms again.
Depending on the time of visit, visitors can actually see live silkworms eating mulberry leaves.