Shirakawa-go Winter Light-Up

Gifu · Lantern festival

On four winter evenings the gassho-zukuri farmhouses of Ogimachi in Shirakawa village are lit from 17:30 to 19:30. In 2027 the nights are 11, 17, 24 and 31 January. Entry is by advance booking only: a village stay, a reserved parking space or a bus tour. Nobody is let in on the day without one.

Dates

11 January 2027

The first of the four nights of the 41st light-up (Mon, public holiday), 17:30 to 19:30. Entry by reservation only. The organisers may cancel if a severe cold wave disrupts traffic across the country.

A few evenings in winter, announced each year. In 2027 there are four, all in January, lit 17:30 to 19:30.

Dates checked against the official site on November 03, 2026

For two hours on each of four evenings, the steep thatched roofs of Ogimachi, the main village of the Shirakawa-go World Heritage site, are lit up after dark. The 2027 event is the 41st. It is also a village where people live, and the Tourist Association runs the evening as a closed event. From 15:30 a gate goes up on the way in, and only people with that night's entry ticket get through. Tickets are not sold on the day. There are five ways to get one: stay the night in the village (a lottery, which for 2027 closed on 31 October 2026), drive in with a reserved space at the Midashima car park, come by taxi using the same reservation, or join a bus tour run by a local bus company or a travel agency. The ticket hangs round your neck, its colour changes each night, and you wear it all evening. The view over the whole village is from the Ogimachi castle ruins viewpoint above it. On light-up nights only people with a viewpoint ticket can go up, and that comes only with a village stay or a bus tour that includes it. Visits are split into three sessions, the walk up from behind the Wada house takes 15 to 20 minutes, and tripods are not allowed. Without a viewpoint ticket you see the light-up from the lanes of the village itself.

Getting a good spot

Numbers are capped by the booking system rather than left to the day. Regular route buses do not help: the last one out of Shirakawa-go leaves between 16:00 and 17:00, before the lights come on, and daytime visitors arriving by route bus are asked to be on one that arrives by 15:20. Stopping, parking or dropping people off anywhere outside the designated car parks is not allowed, nor are drones anywhere in the village; the organisers say rule breakers may be barred from the event for good.

Seats and tickets

For 2027: car parking at Midashima, booked online by credit card only, cost 6,000 yen per car for 1 to 5 people or 9,000 yen for 6 to 10 in the first sale (from 10 September 2026, sold out), and 7,000 or 10,000 yen in the second sale from 1 December 2026 at 13:00. Cars may enter from 15:00 and must be out by 20:00, and winter tyres are required. Bookings cannot be cancelled or refunded unless the organisers cancel the event. The Nouhi Bus tours from Takayama cost 13,000 to 16,000 yen; only the 16,000 yen course includes the viewpoint.

Where it happens

Shirakawa-go Main site UNESCO World Heritage village with traditional gassho-zukuri thatched-roof farmhouses in a remote mountain valley.

Access

Common questions

When is the Shirakawa-go light-up in 2027?

On four nights: 11, 17, 24 and 31 January 2027, from 17:30 to 19:30. The first is a public holiday Monday and the other three are Sundays.

Can I just turn up on the night?

No. From 15:30 there is a gate at the entrance to Shirakawa-go and only people with that night's entry ticket get in. Tickets are not sold on the day; they come with a village stay, a reserved parking space or a bus tour.

Can I go up to the viewpoint during the light-up?

Only with a viewpoint ticket, which comes with a village stay or a bus tour that includes it, such as Nouhi Bus's 16,000 yen course from Takayama. A parking reservation does not include one. Visits are split into three sessions and may be stopped in heavy snow.

Can I get there by public bus?

Not for the light-up. The last regular bus out of Shirakawa-go leaves between 16:00 and 17:00, before the lights come on. On light-up nights local bus companies run bookable tour buses instead, for example Nouhi Bus from Takayama.