Former Toyama House

The Toyama House is the most intact surviving gassho-zukuri farmhouse in the Sho River valley. Built around 1850 for the village headman's family, it once housed up to 48 people across multiple generations under one steeply thatched roof. The distinctive steep pitch, resembling hands pressed together in prayer, was developed to shed heavy mountain snow. The house retains an irori sunken hearth on the ground floor and a saltpeter production pit beneath it, both functional features of this period. German architect Bruno Taut visited in 1935 and praised the structural logic of the design, comparing it to Swiss Alpine farmhouses. His writings helped inspire the preservation movement.