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Handmade paper Mino-Washi and traditional swords of SEKI
Joined 2015
You will enjoy two distinctive fields of Japanese culture by visiting two small towns in one day trip. The one is Mino which is famous for Japanese hand-made paper Washi. Another one is Seki famous for Japanese-swordsmith. Strolling around two towns, you will learn some of secrets of cool Japan.
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
Mino old town district
Mino city was established as a castle town and prospered through production of Washi-paper. The center district of the city is well preserved as one of the important traditional building areas in Japan. You could take a leisurely stroll through the historic townscape Which dates back to the Edo period
Former Imaike Residence
This building was constructed in the end of the 19th century and used as a Washi-paper wholesale merchant's house. The chief of a family also served as the a headman of this town. You could get detailed information about a typical townhouse of the Edo period.
Mino-Washi Akari Art Gallery
This gallery provides you a fantastic atmosphere made by collaboration with paper-art and lights. Many competition masterpieces are on display telling the possibility of paper in daily lives.
Lunch
Seki Traditional Sword Smith MUseum
In this museum, you could learn about the history and the process of Japanese swordsmith.
Feather Museum (The world's First Comprehensive Museum)
This museum was established by the biggest safety razor company in Japan and provide you an eye-opening experience and knowledge of cutlery
Knife Factory
You visit one of the workshops manufacturing high-quality knives. The company prospered business handing down traditional concept of swordsmith production.
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
transportation fee
entrance feeincluding guide for guide and guests (Mino-Washi Akari Art Gallery 200yen, Former Imaike Residence 300yen ,Seki Traditional Sword Smith Museum 200yen)
lunch and beverages
Tour Important Information
Mino is a small castle-town surrounded by mountains. Mino is, however, also one of the hometowns of the traditional Japanese hand-made paper“WASHI”. It was registered as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2014. You can not only see goods and works of art made from WASHI but stroll around the traditional housing area which includes some excellent souvenir shops. I promise you will find and experience traditional Japan by exploring this cozy old town.
Seki is famous for being one of five samurai-swordsmith manufacturing towns in Japan since 14th century. You can see an authentic sword-hammering performance in the Seki Traditional Sword Smith Museum on the first Sunday of every months. Now, since Seki is known for high-quality knives and cutlery production, you can visit a factory to see and learn how those high quality products are made. You can buy products for cheaper prices than other department stores around Japan.
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
