Gifu Prefecture offers tourist attractions such as Ibukiyama, Gero Onsen, and Tsujido; sightseeing events such as the Gujo Odori Dance, Air Festival, and Harukoma; and local delicacies such as mizu-manju, botan-nabe, and sweetfish sweets.
Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture in the central region of Japan, with the Hida Mountains in the north and the Nobi Plain in the south, a land of many ups and downs. Six rivers flow through the prefecture, the Jinzu River, the Sho River, the Kiso River, the Yahagigawa River, the Kuzuryu River, and the Shonai River, each of which has a separate basin.
The Hida mountain range in the north has a higher percentage of forest than other mountains, reaching 92.5%, making it a truly green prefecture. The Hida Mountains in the north are more heavily forested than other mountains, at 92.5%, making it a truly green prefecture. The 600-meter-high mountains surrounding the basin make it a land of distinct seasons, with warm summers and cold winters.
Gifu Prefecture has a number of famous tourist spots, including Shirakawa-go, which is registered as a World Heritage site. Shirakawa-go is a village in the Hida region, one of Japan's heaviest snowfall areas, with rows of gassho-houses with sharply angled thatched roofs for sericulture.
The sharply angled roofs minimize wind resistance and allow the roofs to dry quickly, and the landscape and technology of such buildings were registered as a World Cultural Heritage in 1995.
Many people have probably seen the beautiful scenery of Shirakawa-go in snowy landscapes in photos and videos. Shirakawa-go has been awarded three stars in the Michelin travel guide and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Gifu Prefecture.
Gifu Prefecture is also home to several limestone caves, including the Otaki Cave, which is said to be over 200 million years old, and the Hida Grand Limestone Cave, which was discovered in 1965. The Otaki Cave is a 700-meter long limestone cave where visitors can enjoy a variety of stalactites.
The Hida Daishongnyudo Cave is one of the largest limestone caves in Japan, with a length of 800 meters. The cool and cool cave is a popular tourist spot, especially in summer.
The Hida region is famous for its agricultural products produced by the abundant nature and delicious water, which should be enjoyed along with your trip. Hida beef produced in the Hida region is a must-try for meat lovers, as the beef is suitable for both steak and shabu-shabu.
Gifu Prefecture, with its delicious water, meets the requirements for producing delicious sake, and there is a wide variety of locally brewed sake available. In Shirakawa-go, a World Cultural Heritage site, doburoku, a mellow, fragrant sake, is produced, and events such as the Doburoku Festival are held there.
Gero Onsen was called one of the "Three Famous Hot Springs" in the Muromachi period (1336-1573) along with Kusatsu Onsen and Arima Onsen as Hida no Yushima (Gero Onsen's name at that time was Yushima),Since the Edo period, it has been called one of the "Three Famous Springs of Japan" (the three most famous springs in Japan), and has a history of 1,000 years. Surrounded by mountains, the area is l...»
Built between the end of the Edo period and the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912), this is a village of gassho-zukuri, a style unique to heavy snowfall areas, where the original Japanese landscape of mountains, rivers, fields, and wooden houses can still be seen. This is a precious area where gassho-zukuri are still used in real life. Gassho-zukuri are built by combining wooden beams in a moun...»
This mountain castle on Mt. Kinka, 329 meters above sea level, has a history dating back to the Kamakura period, when Oda Nobunaga moved his headquarters from Komaki Mountain to Gifu Castle in 1567 and improved it. Today, the stonewalls of the ruins of the rice warehouse, drum tower, and Ninomaru-mon Gate remain, and on the top of the mountain is a three-story, four-story mock castle tower rebuil...»
Gero Onsen Machi is a bustling hot spring resort area along the Hida River, centered on the Gero Ohashi Bridge, where you can walk around and enjoy the sights, inns, restaurants, and souvenir stores. You can enjoy strolling around the hot spring town with its fountain ponds, hand and foot baths, and other hot springs everywhere you go....»
Kosaka-cho, Gero City, located at the foot of Mt. Ontake, is famous as one of the towns with the largest number of waterfalls in Japan, with 220 waterfalls with a drop of over 5 meters, including "Neo Falls". The guided tours of unexplored waterfalls by local guides are popular with beginners and experts alike. In August 2008, the "Kosaka Waterfall Tour" was recognized as a "Treasure of Gifu....»
This nameless pond is located near Nemichi Shrine in Itadori, Seki-shi, Gifu Prefecture. The pond is called "Monet's Pond" because the water lilies floating on the surface of the pond filled with crystal clear blue water look like those in French painter Claude Monet's famous painting "Waterlilies" and became a topic of conversation on social networking sites. The spring water from the mountain is...»
It is one of the largest freshwater aquariums in the world. Here, visitors are introduced to river ecosystems from around the world, beginning with the headwaters of the Nagara River. The four-story building houses more than 22,000 living creatures and plants of about 250 species and features detailed habitats not only for fish, but also for reptiles, amphibians, birds, and a wide variety of othe...»
This park, located in the center of Gifu City at the foot of Mt. Kinka, is said to have been the residence of Doso Saito, lord of Gifu Castle in the Warring States Period, and Nobunaga Oda. Kinkasan, the park is surrounded by the great nature of Mt. Kinkasan and is home to many facilities including the Nobunaga Garden, the remains of Nobunaga's residence, Kabukimon Gate, Gifu City Museum of Histor...»
The Takayama Matsuri consists of two festivals: the Sanno Matsuri in the spring and the Hachiman Matsuri in the fall. The people of Hida have long been skilled in architecture and sculpture, and are known as "Hida artisans." The Takayama Festival showcases the stalls that these artisans have painstakingly built. The festival is one of the three most beautiful festivals in Japan, and the highlight...»
Gero Onsen Gassho-mura (Gero Onsen Gassho Village) is a museum consisting of 10 gassho-zukuri buildings that were relocated from Shirakawa-go and other areas, including the "Former Oto Family Residence," a nationally designated Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property. In the village, visitors can tour the interior of the gassho-zukuri, try their hand at pottery making and washi papermaking, visi...»
It is said that Rinkichiro Kinoshita built this castle in one night, and it was the starting point of the Taikoh's success story. The castle tower-shaped historical museum with pure gold ornamentation stands on the ruins of this castle, where you can meet the young Hideyoshi as he unfolds the path to the construction of Sumimata Castle. From the observatory, you can see the Nagara River, Mt. Kinka...»
The pagoda was built by Hojo Masako, a nun general in the Kamakura period (1185-1333), and is the oldest pagoda in the prefecture. The front part of the main hall is a stage, similar to that of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, and is also known as "Mino Kiyomizu" (Mino Kiyomizu)....»
Both banks of the Kiso River, surrounded by nature, are called Ena Gorge, a scenic spot with various strange rocks and monstrous stones.The Ena Gorge sightseeing boat is the best way to enjoy the beauty of the valley.The 20-km round trip cruise starts near Sazanami Park by the Oi Dam Lake, heads upstream through the Enakyo Bridge and the Genji Bridge, and ends at the confluence of the Sutechi Rive...»
Kurikinton is one of the premium Japanese sweets made with chestnuts, which is a specialty of Minotoubu in Gifu Prefecture. It is made with only chestnuts and sugar simmered together, no water added to it but kurikinton is done good and moist. It is not as sticky as the one for osechi. It is shaped like a chestnut, and it is not too sweet but very tasty. There are many chestnut farmers in Ena regi...»
Houbazushi is a special kind of sushi usually made for holidays of farm work and ohimachi, and also when having guests home. This special sushi is decorated colorfully with vinegared salted mackerels and salted trouts. If rice is wrapped with a hou leaf while the rice is still warm, it absorbs the scent of Hou more, however the leaf later dulls its color. In some of the areas, this sushi is wrappe...»
The people of this town where Edo culture was passed on as tenryo during the Edo edo are curious to new food, and Chinese noodles have been popular since before WWII. It is said that the first “Takayama ramen” was served as “Masago soba”, in a stall opened during the early Showa days. “Soba” means Chinese noodles in Takayama, and if you mean Japanese soba you have to say so. The Chinese noodles ha...»
This is a pickled dish of “Hida benimaru kabu”, a traditional turnip of Mino, Hida, grown mainly in Takayama city, Hida area. “Hida benimaru kabu” is smooth and it has a slight sweet taste when biting it raw. Plenty of salt is used when pickles are made, which make an essential preserved food for winter when the snow cuts off all traffic. Washing the red turnips with leaves is a scene often seen i...»
The beef ranked by the Japan Meat Grading Association as “3, 4 and 5” among the black Japanese Gifu beef graded as A1 – A5 is called “Hida Beef”. It is a brand only given to beef of cows raised in Gifu for more than 14 months and those that are graded as having especially profound taste. The “Hida beef” are produced with people who care about the pedigree and safe animal food, and spend time and e...»
“Pickles steak” is a local delicacy of Hida area, Gifu. There was a custom to grill pickles in Hida since long ago. It started when frozen pickles, an important food for the harsh winter, were grilled on magnolia leaves beside the fire in order to melt them. Cut pickles are grilled on top of magnolia leaves and mixed with raw eggs. It is a popular menu in bars in Hida area. Some are cooked with oi...»
Kakamigahara city is a sister city to Chuncheon city, Korea, since 2003. In 2004 an event was held to celebrate the 1st anniversary of being a sister city. The kimchi made by Japanese Koreans for the event became extremely popular. The city municipality started to promote the city using kimchi since then. The kimchi of Kakamigahara is distinctive with carrots and pine nuts from Kakamigahara. More ...»
This dish originates to long ago, when people working in the mountains stuck rice on pieces of wood and grilled them, and ate them with miso when drinking sake. People carried them as lunch. They are made to thank the gods after harvest in autumn. Also they are made when all family members gather or when guests are around....»