Saiko Iyashi no Sato Nenba

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About Saiko Iyashi no Sato Nenba

Saiko Iyashi no Sato Nenba is on the west shore of Lake Sai. The site was once an agricultural village of thatched houses, Nenba, destroyed by a landslide during a typhoon in 1966. Decades later the village was reconstructed on the same site as an open-air museum, with about twenty traditional houses.

The houses have thick straw roofs in the kabuto-zukuri style, with the tops shaped like a samurai helmet, and are scattered on the hillside around dirt paths and a stream. Each one houses an activity: pottery workshops, weaving, washi paper and incense workshops, craft shops, galleries, a tea house and restaurants serving local dishes such as hoto, a thick noodle cooked with vegetables and miso, a Yamanashi specialty.

On clear days, the Fuji cone appears behind the houses, framed in a way that recalls old woodblock prints. Some houses rent kimonos for walking around the village, and the higher path has a small observation area over the roofs.

The village operates on museum hours and charges admission. It’s a common stop for sightseeing buses around Lake Sai, and the surrounding area has trails to the lake and the forest. In the late afternoon, after the buses leave, the village grows quiet, and the path down to Lake Sai’s shore lets you see the thatched houses from afar, with the forest and the mountain in the background.