Gifu Castle

Mount Kinka rises 329 metres straight out of the plain beside the Nagara river, and a castle has stood on it since the thirteenth century. Oda Nobunaga took it in 1567, renamed the town Gifu, and used it as his base for the campaign that brought most of central Japan under his control; the seal he adopted here, tenka fubu, is associated with that period. The mountain was besieged repeatedly, which is what the site is for - it is a defensive position, not a residence, and the keep is small. The present one is a 1956 concrete reconstruction with a museum and an observation floor looking over the river and the city. A ropeway climbs most of the way; four walking trails go up the mountain, the shortest about an hour. In summer the castle opens at night and the ropeway runs late.

History

The Nikaidō clan built the first castle here between 1201 and 1204, then little more than a small fort, and Saitō Toshinaga, who died in 1460, rebuilt it on a far larger scale. In 1567 Oda Nobunaga crossed the Kiso River, laid siege to what was then Inabayama Castle on 13 September and took it (Wikipedia, Gifu Castle).

The main sights

• A 329-metre rock - a defensive summit rising straight from the river plain.
• Nobunaga's base - the castle from which his central Japan campaign was run from 1567.
• A 1956 keep - concrete reconstruction with a museum and observation floor.
• Ropeway or trails - a cable to near the top, or four paths up the mountain.

When to go

All year; summer evenings for the night opening. Half a day.

What to expect

The keep is a small concrete reconstruction - the interest is the site and the view. The walk from the ropeway station to the keep is a further steep climb. Trails are rocky and hot in summer. Haze limits the view on many days.

Nearby

The Nagara river cormorant fishing runs below; Inuyama is south-east.

Key facts