Gifu City 岐阜市

Gifu is a prefectural capital with 400,000 inhabitants located north of Nagoya City, once on the “Nakasendô” highway leading from Edo (today Tôkyô) to Kyôto. In 1564, Gifu was conquered by ODA Nobunaga and in 1891 it was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake – the temple Shôbô-ji and the 13 m high Buddha statue, however, were spared. Gifu castle on Mount Kinka was reconstructed in 1957. Cormorant fishing on the Nagara River is a 1,300-year-old tradition.