b) Agents responsible for preservation/conservation of cultural properties

Ogimachi Village: 1) Shirakawa-Mura 517 Hatogaya, Shirakawa-Mura, Ono-gun, Gifu Prefecture 2) Shirakawa-Mura Board of Education 517 Hatogaya, Shirakawa-Mura, Ono-gun, Gifu Prefecture 3) Shirakawa-Mura Council for the Preservation of the Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings 517 Hatogaya, Shirakawa-Mura, Ono-gun, Gifu Prefecture Ainokura Village: 1) Taira-Mura 2467 Shimonashi, Taira-Mura, Higashitonami-gun, Toyama Prefecture 2) Taira-Mura Board of Education 2271 Shimonashi, Taira-Mura, Higashitonami-gun, Toyama Prefecture 3) Taira-Mura Council for the Preservation of the Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings 2271 Shimonashi, Taira-Mura, Higashitonami-gun, Toyama Prefecture Suganuma Village: 1) Kamitaira-Mura 879 Hosojima, Kamitaira-Mura, Higashitonami-gun, Toyama Prefecture 2) Kamitaira-Mura Board of Education 318 Kaimukura, Kamitaira-Mura, Higashitonami-gun, Toyama Prefecture 3) Kamitaira-Mura Council for the Preservation of the Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings 318 Kaimukura, Kamitaira-Mura, Higashitonami-gun, Toyama Prefecture The management of the Preservation District, in accordance with the Preservation Regulation and the Preservation Plan, is done by the Board of Education in each Mura. The routine maintenance work on buildings, agricultural fields, trees and forests is the responsibility of the individual owners, but the maintenance of common-use facilities such as canals and roads, as well as daily tasks related to fire prevention, have traditionally been carried out under the cooperative work-rotation system of the community organization, or kumi. In the Ogimachi Preservation District the work of rethatching is done under the traditional system of yui -- another cooperative system based on the mutual exchange of labor -- operated among the members of the kumi organizational unit. Also, the Association for the Protection of the Natural Environment of Shirakawa-go Ogimachi Village (an organization for the protection of the historic village landscape in which all village households are represented) discusses and resolves all problems that arise in regard to preservation. In Ainokura and Suganuma Villages the rethatching work formerly done by the traditional mutual labor exchange system (yui) has been taken over by the Gokayama Forest Union, a modernized cooperative organization in which all forest-land-owning households (which includes most households in the two villages) are members. In addition, in both Ainokura and Suganuma Villages, associations have been established for the preservation of Gassho-style houses and the environment as well as for collection and exhibition of folklore items.