Even in summer—which can be exceptionally hot and humid here in Japan—we’re often reminded that there are other seasons in this country as well. And winter, in particular, stands in stark contrast to the weather we’re experiencing outdoors these weeks.
The northern regions in particular, are fairly certain to get quite some snow in winter. Which may be a blessing for some, but for many others is often more of a curse. Especially in northwestern Japan, in the regions along the Sea of Japan, it often snows more than people might like.
These weeks, this cold and snowy season may be behind us, but a recent visit to a museum quickly reminded us that in the end we only have a few months left before the outdoors is no longer sunny and blue, but snowy and gray. And that the ease we’ve sometimes been spoiled by lately will then have to give way to a completely different lifestyle.
Fortunately there are a number of tools available today that make winter more bearable and pleasant. From better heating systems—which in Japan still have plenty of room for improvement—to industrial snow-removal methods. After all, it’s actually not the cold itself, but the huge masses of snow that can make life difficult for people in the north.
I brought back a picture of a diorama for us to see. It shows a snow-covered street in a small Japanese town, with enormous amounts of snow. Even though it’s hard to believe, this is what many towns looked like as recently as fifty or sixty years ago, before snowplows and snow removal vehicles existed.
The streets look like snow-filled canyons, while there is about one meter of snow on the roofs. In our scene, people are busy clearing the snow from the roofs or shoveling it down onto the street, where it then piles up.
In the center, at the top of this snowdrift, there is a small path along which people can move back and forth, though they are at first-story height. The amounts of snow shown here are truly impressive and make it clear just how difficult life can become in such regions during the winter.
To the left and right of the street, in front of the houses, there are small canopies called gangi (雁木), which were built onto many buildings in Japan’s traditional snowy regions. The roofs of the houses are extended far enough forward to create a continuous covered walkway along the street.
The purpose of this architectural feature was to allow residents to move about safely even during snowy winters. While meter-high walls of snow piled up on the streets, people could walk from house to house, to shops, or to the market under the gangi, protected from snow and ice.
In some cities, the gangi often formed continuous paths stretching for kilometers, interrupted only occasionally by intersections and street junctions. However, since these were usually covered in snow, there was often a small tunnel dug through the snow at those points.
Nowadays, snow is usually cleared by machinery and no longer piles up meters high between the houses on the street, but in earlier times, that must have been quite a sight. At least for those who weren’t directly affected by these snowy masses.
But scenes like these highlight the important role this architecture played in daily life. Without the gangi, many paths would have been difficult or impossible to use in winter—which was likely very often the case outside such villages.
Today, while it still snows heavily in some parts of Japan, people fortunately have a few new tools to keep the streets and paths clear. But they still have to go up on the roofs sometimes, because a meter of snow on the roof can compromise the structural integrity of even newer wooden houses. Winter may have lost some of its terror, but people here in Japan are still aware that nature is not to be trifled with. This is proven anew every year...
