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Visit Iwamura town off the beaten path in Gifu via nostalgic Akechi tetsudo Railway

Extremely beautiful sun set in Iwamura town street

Welcome to Iwamura Village of a Lady Otsuya

Local premium sake Onna-joshu at Iwamura brewery

It might be like that Lady Otsuya in the battle

Entire view of Iwamura castle town in Edo period

Ultimate antique wall clocks all still working

Iwamura gibier wild meat restaurant Kobo-ya

Nostalgic guest house Touji-ya

Japanese Inn with hot spring - Iwamura sanso

Sake created from fountain water of Iwamura

No over tourism rather almost quiet here

Stone wall built on natural huge rock

The core of Iwamura were rich fountain waters

Hard ticket and ticket puncher of Akechi Tetsudo

Beautiful blue sky from Stone wall of the castle

Nothing on sight from Akechi Tetsudo

Typical new year decoration of Gifu - Hanamochi

Visit Iwamura town off the beaten path in Gifu via nostalgic Akechi tetsudo Railway

Off the Beaten Path

Joined 2025

Tom K.

Identity Verified

Interview-Based Quality Checks

Gifu

English

6 hours

Private tour (only you and Tom K.)

Up to 4 people

This tour takes you to Iwamura town, a quiet hidden traditional town in the mountains of Gifu, and it is known as ever being ruled by a "女城主 (female castle lord)", Lady Otsuya.

We start the tour with a charming local train ”明知鉄道 (Akechi tetsudo railway) with enjoying peasceful countryside scenery.

In Iwamura preserved town, you can walk through the quiet street seems frozen in time, and discover the story of "岩村城 (Iwamura castle)" most highest castle in Japan, and sorrowful story of Lady Otsuya.

Itinerary

This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!

09:30 AM

Meeting Point

In front of Ena station (JR Chuou line)

- about 1 hour from Nagoya station by JR Chuou line and it cost by JPY1,170 (at June 2026). If you stay in hotel around Nagoya area, we can customize our meeting point and meeting time according to your condition. Guide will wait for you at the meeting point with holding a sign board of Guide name "Tom".

10:00 AM

Ena station (Akechi tetsudo railway)

the entrance of Akechi tetsudo railway locates almost next to the entrance of JR Chuou line.

From Ena station it is around 40min. train ride to Iwamura station.

10:50 AM

Iwamura station

Transportation fee of Akechi tetsudo railway for Ena - Iwamura is JPY490.

Welcome to Iwamura historic preservation district.

This town was developed as a castle town below Iwamura Castle, which was the most highest altitude castle and one of three major mountain castles in Japan.

At first, shall we walk up for about 1km distance 180m higher altitude to the Iwamura castle ruins on the 717m altitude top of mountain ,then look around spectacular view that as perhaps Lady Otsuya did so 500 years before.

Then after walk down back to the base of the mountain, we will walk through the town where many historical buildings still being preserved.

As we walk, please imagine that you are stepping back into the Samurai era.

Also we stop by a curious Antique shop like a museum of lots of wall clocks displayed or a long year traditional sweets shop "Matsuura-ken", and a historical Japanese sake brewery "Iwamura Jozo" brewery and you can try Kaku-uchi style sake tasting of their premium sake as titled "Onna Joshu".

There are couple kind of restaurants like Japanese soba noodle, udon noodle, Italian pasta, Japanese rice bowl lunch, light meal cafe, Gohei-mochi dango sweets as well, then you can have any lunch there with your choice.

Also we will stop by Iwamura historical museum locating just below the mountain and we can see the replica model of Iwamura castle stood on the top of mountain and its castle town below at one time in the history.

04:00 PM

Inamura station (Akechi tetsudo railway)

Go back to Ena station with Akechi tetsudo railway.

In the return way of Akechi tetsudo, shall we review what we saw and what we experienced in Iwamura town then plan our next visit if you wish.

05:00 PM

Ena station (JR Chuou line)

Once we say good bye each other for next meet.

Ending Point

Ena station (JR Chuou line)

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

What‘s included

・Guide Fee

・Admission Fee of Iwamura historical museum for Guide and

Guests

・Public Transportation Fee for Guide

・Lunch, Foods, Beverages for Guide

・Personal Expence for Guide

What‘s not included

・Public Transportation Fee for Guests (Railway fee to Ena and Iwamura are indicated in Itinerary section, please refer it)

・Lunch, Foods, Beverages for Guests (Lunch expenses will be around JPY1,000 to 2,000 in Iwamura town)

・Sake Tasting Fee in Iwamura Brewery for Guests (JPY600 to 2,000 for small testing glass, price varies by which do you try)

・Personal Expences for Guests

Tour Important Information

・This tour is mainly a walking tour along street or in a mountain.

・You can enjoy some street foods and sweets along the street.

・It is selectable if we climb up to the 717m altitude mountain top of the Iwamura castle ruins and walk around ruins or not to climb up.

・It is little difficult to find out special meals for any food restrictions.

Important message from the supplier

I have lots of guiding experiences of well known tourism spots around Aichi or Gifu, like Naogoya castle or Takayama city or Toyota commemorative museum as well.

And I am really interested in Japanese Samurai period history then I am always digging into new expertises of our history and related culture.

Shall we set sail and leave port together for discovering new unknown places and new facts of our history or new deliciousity of hidden local foods.

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 2025

Tom K.

Identity Verified

Interview-Based Quality Checks

About Tour Guide Tom K.

Hello, This is Tom!!

I started to work as an English speaking Guide from last year of Aichi and Gifu, Shiga, Shizuoka or Toyama, around mid center of Japan.

I already have many experiences of guiding tourists from many countries at “Nagoya castle”, “Toyota commemorative museum”, “Atsuta Jingu shrine”, “Osu Kannon temple and shopping arcade”, “Inuyama castle”, “Nagashima outlet mall”, "Seto-Gura pottary museum", “Sekigahara samurai battle field“, “Seki swordsmith museum”, “Takayama traditional town street”, “Takayama Jinya shogunate office”, “Shirakawa-go thatched roof houses village”, “Tateyama snow wall” as well.

If you have interests of Japanese history and culture or way of life, we can learn together them through my histrical tours.

I also work as a tour conductor of group tour using Van or Tour Bus or Shinkansen bullet train and have experiences of attending their lunch and dinner then I have experiences of how to cope different food restrictions of each ethnic group.

And I am little aged as you see then I am familiar with “slow life style” of elderly people then I will customize the pace of my tour flexibly according to the age and condition of my customer.

On the other hand if you have little kids in your party, I can prepare tours for kids like “Ghibli park” or “SCMaglev railway park” as well.

Please contact me immediately when you are ready to visit here around mid center of Japan.