If you have visited Japan many times, or if you have lived in Japan for several years, you are familiar with major cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka already. For those of you who would like to go to somewhere less touristy, quieter and more local, we have several places to recommend. The first on our list is Gifu.
Where is Gifu?
Gifu Prefecture is located in the central part of Honshu, Japan’s main island. With an area of 10,621 square kilometers, Gifu Prefecture is the 7th largest prefecture in Japan. Gifu is surrounded by seven different prefectures and one of the eight prefectures that have no sea out of all 47 prefectures in Japan.
The name Gifu might not sound familiar, but Takayama or Shirakawago would ring a bell – Yes, they are in Gifu Prefecture, but they are so popular that their names are known more than the name of the prefecture where they are located.
In the northern part of Gifu, we can see a range of mountains higher than 3,000 meters. Takayama and Shirakawago are in this northern area.
The southern part of Gifu is called Nobi Heiya (or Nobi Plain) that boasts three beautiful rivers, namely Kiso River, Nagara River and Ibi River.
Today, we are going to look at Gifu City. Gifu City is the capital of Gifu Prefecture located in the Nobi Plain. It is the most populous city in Gifu Prefecture and offers beautiful scenery – Nagara River runs through the city and next to the river rises Mt. Kinka with Gifu Castle on top.
How to get here:
Gifu City is just about 20 to 25 minutes away from Nagoya Station by train. If you are coming from Tokyo or Osaka by Shinkansen (bullet train), you can stop at Nagoya, change trains to JR Tokaido Line to Gifu.
Take the north exit of the station and the taxi stand is right in front of you. There are newer business hotels near the station but if you would like to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the river and the mountain, it is better to stay near the river. Some of them are more traditional style hotels with onsen (hot spring) facilities.
Sample Itinerary for a Weekend Trip
The first thing that catches your eyes when you exit the station is the golden statue of Oda Nobunaga, who was a samurai warlord who ruled Gifu Castle. Take a taxi or use a public bus if you would like to go more local to get your hotel near Nagara River.
Leave your baggage at the hotel you are staying tonight, and let‘s walk along Kawaramachi. Kawaramachi is an area that thrived as a river port when Nagara River was used for water transportation, and now where you can enjoy the old townscape of Gifu. The street is lined with small houses. The houses look small because of the narrow frontage, but they are deep inside. There are shops of handicrafts (such as Gifu Uchiwa fans and Japanese umbrellas) and stationary, confectionaries, cafes and restaurants that have a cute little Japanese style patio. Kawaramachi is definitely smaller in scale compared to Takayama or Magome/Tsumago, but the size is nice if you just want a glimpse of traditional houses without walking a lot.
See also: Weekend Road Trip from Nagoya to Magome, Takayama, and Shirakawago - Sample Itinerary
After walking around, you can have lunch either in Kawaramachi or somewhere near Gifu Park.
Gifu Park is just about 10 minute-walk away from Kawaramachi. Gifu Park spreads at the foot of Mr. Kinka, and is beautifully decorated with cherry blossoms in spring and colored leaves in autumn. Inside the park are a cable car station, Gifu City Historical Museum and Nawa Museum of Insects, which is one of the oldest museums of insects in Japan and exhibits Japanese luehdorfia or commonly known as Gifu Butterfly, which is a species of butterfly endemic to Japan first found by the first director of the museum Yasushi Nawa.
Now, let’s take the cable car to the top of Mt. Kinka. The ride itself is just for four minutes but don’t miss the red “Three-Story Pagoda”. This three-story pagoda was planned as a commemorative project to celebrate the accession to the throne of Emperor Taisho, and was built by Gifu City in 1917 after collecting donations from citizens. The tower was conceived by Chuta Ito, who is considered the founder of Japanese architectural history, designed Meiji Jingu Shrine and Tsukiji Honganji Temple, and was the first person in the architectural world to be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit.
After walking another 10 minutes from the cable car top station, you will see Gifu Castle. Gifu Castle was once called Inabayama Castle and was the residence of Saito Dosan during the Sengoku Period or Warring States Period. In August 1567, Nobunaga Oda, the one from the statue at the station, took over the castle and conquered the area, renaming it from “Inokuchi” to the current name “Gifu”. The present castle was reconstructed in July 1956 by the Gifu Castle Reconstruction Association. In 2011, the area around Mt. Kinka including the castle was designated as a national historic site as “Gifu Castle Ruins”.
Gifu Castle is also famous for its 360 degrees panoramic night view. The cable car operating hours are usually until 17:00 or 18:00 but depending on the days, the hours are extended to 20:00/20:30 for visitors to enjoy the view.
For details, see the official website of Gifu City.
Taking the cable car down to Gifu Park, we head to Nagaragawa Ukai Museum. This museum showcases the history of traditional “Ukai” or cormorant fishing in Gifu. Cormorant fishing is an ancient fishing technique where Usho (the fisherman who manages the cormorants) uses trained cormorants to catch ayu fish.
Now that we learned about cormorant fishing, it is time to see the actual one. The fishing performance is shown every day from the period May 11 to October 15, 2024 except for one day around Mid-Autumn Festival and days when the water level is too high.
You can book a visitor boat (chartered or shared) to watch the performance. The ticket office is in Kawaramachi, but it is safer to book online beforehand to secure your seat in the peak season.
The visitor boats have a roof and a long table in the middle with a tatami mat on the floor, so people can sit and enjoy eating and drinking on the river. You can order a bento box when you book the ticket, or bring your own food to the boat. The performance starts at 19:45, but the boats depart well in advance for the people to enjoy the breeze on the river, scenery and the food and drink. Are you worried about what happens if you want to go to the bathroom before the performance starts? No worries, some boats have a toilet in the boat, and others have a shuttle boat service to the “toilet boat”.
When you hear some fireworks, it is the signal of the start of the fishing. Fishing boats come down the river one by one, and one or two visitor boats run along the fishing boat so the visitors can see the fishing. The torchlight attached to the fishing boat reflected on the dark river water is magical and the voice and the sound of Usho patting the side of the boat to encourage the cormorants take you back all the way to the ancient times.
For more details, see the Gifu Cormorant Fishing website.
We start our Day 2 with Gifu Great Buddha. This is the largest dry-lacquered Buddha in Japan. This seated Buddha is 13.63-meter-high, and the hall accommodating the statue is 23.6-meter-high. It is constructed with a ginkgo tree as a main pillar and wooden framework. The exterior is made of high-quality bamboo and clay, over which lacquer and gold leaf are applied.
Yanagase shopping arcade used to be a bustling town, but now many stores have closed their shutters. However, there are still “hidden gems”. It is fun to walk around and find those little shops and restaurants. Sunday Market (except for the second Sunday of the month) is held and many stalls and also the visitors will fill the arcade.
After lunch, we can slowly walk back to Gifu Station. On the way is Kogane Jinja or Kogane Shrine. “Konage” is written as 金 (gold) in Japanese and this shrine has been revered since ancient times as a god of industrial prosperity, wealth and fortune, and business prosperity.
If you have extra time, you can stop at Tamamiyacho street. This area is a concentration of Izakaya style restaurants and popular among young people. You can get a table/seat before it gets too crowded before heading back to the station.
Hope you can enjoy the local, less touristy atmosphere of Gifu City. Happy travels!
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*All the photos in this article belong to Property Access.