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Cormorant fishing viewing on the Nagaragawa River
Joined 2015
Gifu Castle standing on the Mt.Kinka provides visitors with nice panoramic views day and night. You also enjoy watching a traditional unique event Cormorant Fishing on the Nagara River while eating dinner in a viewing boat. Sir Charlie Chaplin visited Gifu twice to enjoy this unique traditional event. Besides, a photogenic street Kawara-machi and the Great Buddha statue in Shoboji-temple move you so much.
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
At JR Gifu Station
JR Gifu Station
After meeting, you move around the station-front area
Public tea house (Matcha-tea break) in Gifu park
Shobo-ji (Great Buddha)
In Shoboji temple, you see a golden Great Buddha statue which is one of the three most famous Buddha-statues in Japan.
Nagara River Ukai Museum
In the Nagaragawa Ukai Museum, you learn everything about cormorant fishing. You can also visit one of the fishing master's cafe 'U-no-Iori U' where you can see and come close to cormorants while drinking coffee.
Kawara-machi
Strolling around the old wooden building street, you enjoy dropping in unique souvenir shops, cafe and fancy restaurants.
Cormorant Fishing*(11 May to 15 October)
From May 11th to October 15th, you could enjoy cormorant fishing known as Ukai on the Nagara River at night. Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing style that started over 1300 years ago. You can enjoy eating dinner on a viewing-boat on the river and see how the fishing-masters manipulate birds to catch sweetfish, Ayu. The ephemeral performance by the fishermen and birds will give you a small glimpse of the old days.
Night view from the castle *(the available date in 2024 is still unknown)
You enjoy a night tour to the castle via lift-ride and walk. The panorama view from the castle balcony is unforgettable.
JR Gifu station
Ending Point
At JR Gifu Station
Want to personalize this tour?
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Inclusions & Exclusions
guide fee and pick-up in a hotel in central area of Gifu city
transportation fee for guide and guests
entrance fee for guests (Gifu CIty Museum:300yen, Shobo-ji:200yen, Nagaragawa Ukai Museum:500yen)
cormorant fishing boat fee for guide and guests (adult/child:3400/1700yen per person)
lunch,tea and dinner fee for guest and guide about 5000yen/person
Tour Important Information
(example itinerary A)
・JR Gifu Station(meeting point) 13:00
・Strolling around Station Front 13:00~13:30
・Public tea house(tea break) 13:40~14:20
・Shobo-ji(Great Buddha) 14:30~15:00
・Nagaragawa Ukai Museum 15:10~16:10
・Kawara-machi 16:30~17:30
・comorant fishing 18:00~20:30
・ night view from the castle 20:30~21:30
・JR Gifu Station 22:00
(example itinerary B)
・JR Gifu Station(meeting point) 10:30
・Gifu Castle 11:00~12:20
(lunch 12:20~13:20)
・Shobo-ji(Great Buddha) 13:20~13:50
・Public tea house(tea break) 14:00~14:30
・Nagaragawa Ukai Museum 15:00~16:00
・Kawara-machi 16:20~17:30
・comorant fishing 18:00~20:30
・JR Gifu Station 21:00
*an attached video shows a scene of cormorant fishing
Important message from the supplier
I can guide in Kyoto in case you support transportation fee.
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Joined 2015
About Tour Guide Tetsuji Y.
Hello everyone. I am Tetsuji. I worked as a public servant in the local government for 35 years. I belonged to the department of Redevelopment, Town-Landscaping, Preserving historical areas and Architectural Guidance. (I have a national 1st-class architect license.) I devoted myself to revitalizing the city by making plans and improving infrastructure for citizens.
Gifu is located in central Japan near Nagoya. As just being the crossroads of the West and the East, there are many unique attractions that are hard to discover in hectic big cities like Tokyo or Kyoto. I had a hand in restoring and preserving some of them throughout my career and want to introduce them to tourists from abroad. That’s why I became a guide-interpreter in Gifu.
I also enjoyed traveling around the world. My favorite part of each trip was walking around the city and talking with local residents. Traveling has taught me lots of things during my lifetime. Now, I would like to help others have similar experience in Japan. Shall we enjoy fantastic journey in Gifu?
Reviews
“Great tour of Takayama and Furukawa”
Tetsuji is a patient, knowledgeable guide who managed to fit all the highlights of two towns into a relaxed-feeling day. He introduced us to many under the surface aspects of local culture that we would have overall missed. And he made us feel comfortable traveling with children with constant food and bathroom needs. A five-star guide and great person!
Tetsuji Y.
(39 reviews)Thank you for excellent praise for my tour. I am very happy to hear that you are satisfied with my guiding. I hope you could come back to Japan again and enjoy traveling around my area with me. I believe you still have a lot of places to visit and know the details. Please give my best regards to your family members.
“Visit to Shirakawa-go”
We had a wonderful day with Tetsui who guided us through Shirakawa-go, the site of traditional gassho-zukuri houses. Tetsui was a terrific guide, providing a wealth of information on the traditional houses, but also any number of other topics related to Japanese culture along the way. He made helpful suggestions and adjustments to respond to our interests. Tetsui also handled the logistics extremely well, taking away any worry about our day. He even made bus reservations for us in advance to help us with a somewhat complicated day for us, as we were not familiar with the reservation process. We traveled with him from Takayama to Shirakawa, then we continued on to Kanazawa while he returned to Takayama. I thoroughly enjoyed his company and highly recommend Tetsui as a guide for a tour in Japan!
Tetsuji Y.
(39 reviews)Thank you so much for your high praise. I am very happy to hear that you are satisfied with my job. I hope next opportunity could bring you back to Japan and give me a chance to help you traveling again. Please give my best regards to James.
Fabrice C.
Discover Authentic Japan in Tsumago & Magome, Nakasendo
“A magical hike in a wonderful place”
We spent a really wondeful time with Tetsuji during this one-day hiking tour. He picked us in the lobby of the hotel and guided us very efficiently all day long (peace of mind for the whole family). He gave us all sorts of explanations during the hike and answered all of our questions (and we had a lot) about the place but also japanese culture and traditions. Having with us someone this knowledgeable, kind and professional made this day very special and one of the best moment (if not the best) of our stay in Japan. We can only recommend you contact him if you want to discover the Nagoya region !
Tetsuji Y.
(39 reviews)I am very honored to have joined your family-reunion-journey in Japan. A friendly atmosphere of all a member of your family made me relaxed and enjoyed hiking while guiding. I hope you could visit Japan and spend happy times with me again.
$110/ per group
Reserve
