Gifu Castle, located on the summit of Mount Kinka (Kinkazan), in Gifu City, towers above the rocky mountain and has one of the most impressive views of any castle in Japan.

The current castle was rebuilt in July 1956 by the Gifu Castle Reconstruction Period Alliance and has a four-story structure made of reinforced concrete and has become a symbol of Gifu City.

The interior of the castle is an exhibition hall for historical materials, and the roof is an observatory, popular with many people. In addition, the area around Mount Kinka was designated a National Historic Site as “Gifu Castle Ruins” in 2011.

Gifu Castle is one of the tallest castles under construction (329 meters above sea level) and from the top floor you can see the Nagara River, famous for cormorant fishing, and on the east side the city and Mount Ena, and from the north side Mt. Kiso Ontake shows a magnificent figure, Norikura and the Japanese Alps, and from the west side the mountains of Ibuki, Yoro and Suzuka, and from the south side the Great Plain of Noo, and you can see the Kiso stream flowing gently to Ise Bay.

The castle was the residence of Dosan Saito during the Warring States period, main character in the novel “Kunitori Monogatari”. Then it was the residence of the famous unifier Nobunaga Oda.

Nobunaga Oda captured this castle and became the owner of the castle, changing the name of the city to Gifu and also changing the name of the Castle, which was formerly called Inabayama Castle to the current name ¨Castle of Gifu¨.

Cable car │ Ticket

• 550 yen round trip from 4 to 11 years old │ 300 yen one way.

• 1.100 yen round trip over 12 years old │ 630 yen one way.

Path

Gifu Castle

Opening Hours:

• From early April to mid October from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.
• From mid-October to March from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Castle Ticket:

• 100 yen from 4 to 15 years old. │ 200 yen over 16 years old.

Note: Gifu Castle opening hours are subject to change.

First and second floor

Third floor

Fourth floor

Don’t miss the other two attractions on Mount Kinka.

One of them is the wonderful observatory, the highest in the region at 329 meters high.

And the other attraction is the famous Squirrel Zoo, the first squirrel zoo in Japan.

ORIGIN:

Gifu Castle was originally built by the Nikaidō clan between 1201 and 1204 during the Kamakura Period and destroyed around 1600 in the moments leading up to the crucial Battle of Sekigahara, when Japan was finally reunified.

Originally called Inabayama Castle, Gifu Castle has undergone a number of renovations over the course of several generations.

When Nobunaga Oda took over Inabayama Castle on September 13, 1567, he made the castle his main base of operations and renamed it Gifu Castle, following an example set by an ancient Chinese practice, Nobunaga then renovated the castle. castle into a much more impressive and grandiose structure than its previous incarnation.

Nobunaga used Gifu Castle as his main residence for about ten years, until the completion of Azuchi Castle in 1579.

Gifu Castle was destroyed during the WWII bombing of 1945, being rebuilt in the 1950s with concrete and wood.

Gifu-ken Gifu-shi 18