Gifu

Gifu city sits along the Nagara River in central Japan, a place where samurai history and living traditions merge. Gifu Castle perches dramatically atop Mount Kinka, once the stronghold of Oda Nobunaga during his campaign to unify Japan. The city below preserves one of the country's most remarkable customs: ukai cormorant fishing.

Each summer evening from May to October, master fishermen in traditional garb guide trained cormorants by torchlight to catch sweetfish — a spectacle unchanged for over 1,300 years. Beyond the river, Gifu is the gateway to the mountainous Hida region, Shirakawa-go's thatched-roof villages, and some of Japan's finest onsen towns.