Gifu

Got the chance to go to Gifu a few weekends ago. Gifu-city is about an hour north of Kariya by densha, in the Gifu Prefecture, adjoining Aichi Prefecture. The main tourist attraction is Gifu Castle, a reconstructed castle at the top of Mount Kinka (just barely visible in the picture below).

 

Gifu Park stands at the base of the mountain and serves as a sort of gateway to the paths leading up to Gifu Castle as well as a few gardens and temples.

There are two methods of getting to Gifu Castle, one is the 'ropeway' a scenic gondola that costs a little over a thousand yen ($10) roundtrip fare and takes about three minutes to ride up.

The second method is to climb. There are a few different paths leading up the mountain, and it takes about 45 minutes to climb up. We decided to climb, to get some exercise and fresh air given how pretty it was outside. The path begins with a staircase which leads to clearly marked slightly inclined path for the majority of the walk. Towards the top, the path turns into more of a hike, with large stone steps to step on and angled walking paths chiseled directly into the mountain.

 

Rather difficult signboard to follow.

We saw people of literally all ages on the climb. Little kids around 3 or 4 years old with little backpacks and water bottles hiking with their parents, middle aged people in track suits running up the mountain - probably training for a race of some sort, elderly men and women with walking poles, huffing and puffing, but always smiling.

Gifu Castle

The view from the top

After climbing we walked around Gifu Park a bit, seeing a Buddhist temple, the Gifu China-Japan friendship garden, and a Great Buddha statue. All in all, it was a nice little day trip from Kariya.