Is Gifu Japan’s best kept secret?

Hits and memories in the beating heart of Honshu

While Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto might get the lion’s share of attention from visitors to Japan, rural destinations like Gifu are increasingly seeking the limelight.

Yes, the prefecture in the centre of Japan’s main island of Honshu thrills with luxe landscapes, castles, craftsmanship, and a rich history, but there are other reasons to do a double take.

In Gifu, cormorants do the fishing, freshwater eel (unagi) has epicurean edge, fake display food is a thing, bungee jumps are the highest in the country, and festival floats are priceless treasures.

Gifu Prefecture is dominated by mountains on three sides. In the south, the alluvial Nōbi Plain is created by the Nagara, Ibi, and Kiso rivers.

We arrive by shinkansen at Gifu-Hashima Station on a November morning when autumn is still on red alert. A four-day roadtrip to enjoy Gifu’s highlights starts in the prefecture’s south, heads north through 56 tunnels of the Tokai-Hokuriki Highway and returns later to its south-eastern flank.

First up, it’s Gifu Park and the Kinkazan Ropeway (cable car) to Mt Kinka. Atop Mt Kinka, looking down on the southern bank of the Nagara River, is Gifu Castle where legendary warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534–82) began mapping out a campaign to unify Japan.

The lower three floors of the castle house a museum with historic artifacts, models, and other displays centred around Nobunaga (who, sadly, failed in his unification bid). The fourth and highest floor is an observation area with a panoramic view of the city, and the Nagara River.

Catch of the day

Near the foot of Kinkazan is Kawara-machi which has thrived as a riverside port district for merchants since the Oda Nobunaga era. Latticed housing, old-world post office boxes, and winding roads are surrounded by yesteryear’s distinctive storehouses whose shops still prosper as restaurants, cafes and outlets for Gifu’s signature roasted ayu (sweet fish), Japanese sweets and the round, paper Uchiwa fans (coated with varnish to provide waterproofing.) 

From these docks, leave to view the cormorant fishing that locals call Ukai. Guided by flaming torchlight, fishermen helm long wooden boats along the Nagara River, each with a dozen cormorants on leashes. The birds dive under the water to catch ayu by swallowing them whole. The larger fish are trapped in a pouch in the cormorant’s throat to be retrieved later.

Gifu is known for the well-preserved Edo village of Shirakawa-go with its “gassho-zukuri” houses whose thatched roofs resemble hands clasped in prayer. Attic space was used to cultivate silkworms.

Many of these houses are still inhabited. The oldest and largest remaining house, the Wada Residence, is a private residence but part of it is open to the public. Some of the houses offer accommodation.

Lessons in ecology

Ten minutes away is a project that blends the ancient and modern. The Toyota Shirakawa-Go Eco Institute  is a nature school dedicated to environmental education. Visitors can enjoy hands-on nature programs, ecological wildlife surveys, and forest conservation along with night hiking, snow sledding, forest walking, hot springs and e-bike riding.

The institute, which opened in 2005, was inspired by growing environmental awareness, and followed the launch of Toyota’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, the Prius, in 1997. 

Hida-Furukawa to the east are old, traditional towns, the Seto River the heart of the area. The canals running off the river are home to more than 1,000 brilliantly coloured carp.

In Hida-Furukawa, we pass the Mishima Japanese Candle Shop, which has specialized in traditional Japanese candle-making for hundreds of years.

Says owner Junji Mishima, “Every year on January 15, for the ‘Santera Mairi’ [Three Temple Visit] we make huge Japanese candles, weighing over 13 kilograms, to dedicate to the Enkoji, Shinshuji, and Honkoji temples. It takes 18 to 19 hours for my son and I to make two candles. This is the only place in Japan that makes Japanese candles of this size.”

Portable perfection

One of the three most beautiful festivals in Japan is the Takayama Matsuri, in Hida-Takayama, its focus the elaborate floats (or yatai) that are pulled through the streets of the town in spring (April 14 and 15) and in autumn (October 9 and 10). Four of the autumn festival’s 11 floats are exhibited at the Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan, next to the Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine.

The floats are several hundred years old and contain beautiful examples of Takayama’s craftsmanship – gilding, engraving, lacquering, and weaving. On permanent display is the “Mikoshi”, the largest portable shrine, which weighs around 2.5 tonnes and requires 80 bearers to carry.

The Furukawa Festival, held each year on April 19 and 20 in Hida-Furukawa, has three parts: the traditional procession of the portable shrine; the “okoshi-daiko”, or “rousing drum”, performance at night, featuring hundreds of exuberant, bare-chested men in bleached cotton loincloths and stomach wraps; and a magnificent festival float parade. These festivals recognition as the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Timeless elegance

In Gifu there is walking, cycling, skiing, waterfalls, stunning autumn foliage, cherry blossoms, and hot springs. The town of Hida-Osaka has more than 200 waterfalls in its dramatic gorges. The Nakasendo is an old highway between Tokyo and Kyoto along which there were many Post Towns where travellers could spend the night. Among them is Magome-Juku, awarded a one-star rating by the Michelin Green Guide Japan.

The cobblestone streets are lined with old, lattice-windowed residential houses, museums, tea houses, and souvenir shops. Leave time to shop for woodcrafts, chestnut cakes, and persimmon treats.

Ena-Iwamura is an ancient feudal city located at the foot of Mt. Ena. Iwamura Castle’s claim to fame is that it had a Lady Lord, the aunt of Oda Nobunaga, Lady Otsuya. Its mountain location  717m above sea level made it difficult to attack, as did the fact the castle was often blanketed in a deep fog.

The Iwamura Castle was abandoned and dismantled in 1873, and only the stone walls remain. Records dating from 1702 show that it had more than 31 sections of stone wall, 11 turret towers, 17 gates, and more than 680 gun ports and arrow slits along the walls.

Our reconnaissance ends in the castle town. Stroll the charming streets of Iwamura and sample castella sponge cake, gohei-mochi (skewered grilled rice-cake with sweet miso sauce) and kankara-mochi (sweetened rice cake with sesame powder, red bean paste, and roasted soybean flour). Factor in a sake at the Iwamura Brewery. Kanpai!

visitgifu.com