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Gifu is the capital of Gifu Prefecture in central Japan, a city on the plain of the clear Nagara River, watched over by the steep, wooded peak of Mount Kinka and the castle on its summit. It is best known for its cormorant fishing, a summer night ritual on the river that has lasted for more than 1,300 years, and for crafts made from Mino paper and bamboo.
In the Sengoku period the warlord Saitō Dōsan held the mountain, and in 1567 Oda Nobunaga took it, renamed the town Gifu and made it the base for his drive to unify Japan. Later the riverside became a busy port for timber and paper merchants, and the city grew into a center of the textile and fashion trade. Today Gifu is home to about 400,000 people and lies within easy reach of Nagoya.
Ride the ropeway up Mount Kinka to the castle, then explore Gifu Park at its foot. Walk the old merchant houses of Kawaramachi, and in the evening board a boat on the Nagara to watch the cormorant masters at work by firelight.
Gifu Castle crowns the 329-meter summit of Mount Kinka in Gifu, a mountain stronghold that Oda Nobunaga seized in 1567, when he renamed the town Gifu. Abandoned in 1601, it was rebuilt in concrete in 1956 as a museum keep, and its view sweeps over the Nagara River and the Nōbi Plain.
Mount Kinka rises 329 meters over the center of Gifu, a steep wooded peak once called Mount Inaba and long the symbol of the city. The Kinka Mountain Ropeway, opened in 1955, climbs from Gifu Park toward the castle, while hiking trails lead up the slopes and the night view from the top is popular.
Gifu Park lies at the foot of Mount Kinka in Gifu, on the site where Oda Nobunaga built his lavish residence below the castle. Opened in the 1880s, it was chosen as one of the 100 best historic parks in Japan in 2006 and holds gardens, the ropeway station, museums and the excavated palace site.
Nawa Insect Museum stands in Gifu Park in Gifu, opened in 1919 as the first insect museum in Japan by Yasushi Nawa, famed for his study of the Gifu butterfly. Its western-style building by Goichi Takeda holds over 300,000 specimens, and the butterflies it raises emerge each spring.
Nagara River Cormorant Fishing takes place in Gifu on most nights from 11 May to 15 October, when masters in boats lit by fire baskets guide trained cormorants to catch sweetfish. The practice here dates back more than 1,300 years, and its masters hold posts in the Imperial Household Agency.
Kawaramachi is an old merchant quarter by the Nagara River in Gifu, once a busy river port where timber and Mino paper were landed and traded. It escaped the wartime air raids, so lattice-fronted wooden houses still line the street, many now home to old shops and cafés in restored townhouses.
Nagara River Ukai Museum opened on 1 August 2012 on the north bank of the Nagara River in Gifu, close to Nagara Bridge, to pass on the culture of the river's cormorant fishing. Its exhibits explain the birds, the boats and the masters' tools, and it stays open late during the summer season.
Nagara River flows 166 km from Gujō through Gifu to Ise Bay, ranked among the three clearest rivers in Japan. Its middle reaches were chosen among the 100 famous waters of Japan in 1985, and its stretch above Nagara Bridge in Gifu is the only river listed among the best swimming spots in Japan.
Gifu Great Buddha sits in Shōhō-ji, an Ōbaku Zen temple in Gifu, a 13.63-meter seated Buddha completed in 1832 after 38 years of work. Its frame of ginkgo wood and woven bamboo was covered in clay, sutras on Mino paper, lacquer and gold leaf, and it is ranked among the three great Buddhas of Japan.
Inaba Shrine stands at the foot of Mount Kinka in Gifu, the main shrine of the city, honoring Inishiki-irihiko, a son of Emperor Suinin said to have opened up the land. Saitō Dōsan moved it to its present site in 1539 as he built his castle, and it leads the Gifu Festival each April.
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu opened on 3 November 1982 in Gifu, and focuses on artists from the prefecture such as Kawai Gyokudō while also holding a large collection of works by the French artist Odilon Redon. Sculptures stand in its gardens, and it reopened in 2019 after a full renovation.
Gifu Lanterns are a traditional craft of Gifu, made with thin Mino paper stretched over fine bamboo and painted with flowers and scenery. Made since around the start of the Edo period, they became famous after Emperor Meiji's visit in 1878, and Gifu Prefecture now leads Japan in lantern production.
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