At Shiramine, a village nestled at the foot of Mount Hakusan, a traditional lifestyle known as "Dezukuri" has been passed down for generations. Families once built simple huts deep in the mountains, where they lived while practicing small-scale, family-run slash-and-burn cultivation and charcoal making. Close to nature’s gifts—and its harsh realities—mountain people learned to value limited resources and to live in a way that ensured these blessings could be handed down to future generations.
In winter, when heavy snow blankets the mountains, the forests transform into a vast white landscape. Wearing traditional kanjiki snowshoes, people could walk great distances across the snow. Hares and bears served as important sources of food during these cold months. With the arrival of spring, melting snow brought abundant water that nourished the forest, char fish, mountain vegetables, and local crops.
Shiramine is also a community deeply rooted in Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism. From November into the winter season, residents observe Ho-onko, a memorial service honoring Shinran Shonin, the sect’s founder. The meals served during this time feature carefully preserved mountain ingredients gathered from spring to autumn, as well as lovingly grown local produce. Each dish reflects gratitude for the blessings of Mount Hakusan and for the bonds shared among family and neighbors.
“Because the mountains are here, we can live.”
Long before the word “sustainability” became widely known, this way of thinking shaped everyday life in the rural mountain communities. Here in Shiramine, you can experience firsthand a lifestyle that continues to embody this timeless relationship between people and nature.
Sustainable Life in the Deep Mountains
The NPO Shiramine Nature School is a guide organization operating in the Shiramine region at the foot of Mt. Hakusan, one of the three sacred mountains of Japan. We provide guided nature tours for individuals, groups, and schools, such as hiking Mt. Hakusan, and experience guided tours of the Shiramine Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.
We are targeting a wide range of age groups, from children to the elderly, and will deliver moving experiences by teaching local guides how to enjoy nature and experience history and culture in a way that only a guide who grew up in the area can convey. We also respond to customer requests by providing programs such as nature and cultural experience activities in the Shiramine area and supporting nature activities.
About Hakusan Shiramine Nature School
About Shiramine
Shiramine is located about 50 km from Kanazawa, and is surrounded by rich nature such as beech forests. The historic townscape and traditional culture cultivated in this mountain village area with heavy snowfall sometimes reaching 5 meters still remain strong to this day.
Certified as both the Hakusan Tedorigawa Global Geopark and the Hakusan UNESCO Ecopark, this town is a quintessential expression of the relationship between the earth (geo) and nature (eco), and the lives of the people of Shiramine who live within it. Please come and visit.