Gifu, Gifu
Gifu (Japanese岐阜 市, -shi) is a city and the administrative center of Gifu Prefecture on Honshu, the main island of Japan. It lies on the River Nagara near Nagoya.
Gifu has a university where engineering industry is still next to textiles, plastics, paper and porcelain industry settled.
Geography
Gifu had 2006 413.180 inhabitants, in 1903 there were about 40,000.
The river Nagara flows through the city from northeast to southwest.
Directly west of the city center there are several mountains that are completely surrounded in part by the built environment, including the Kinka, and ensure their foehn winds in the summer for a warm climate.
Attractions
Gifu is a former castle town, the castle - Gifu still exists today. Another attraction is the Zen temple. In 1891 an earthquake destroyed the city almost completely, but it was quickly rebuilt.
In Gifu is today Ukai, traditional cormorant fishing operated.
Traffic
Major Roads
- National Road 21: by Mizunami and Maibara
- National Road 22: to Nagoya
- National roads 156, 157, 248, 256, 303
Rail links
- JR Tōkaidō Main Line: Tokyo and Kobe
- JR Takayama Main Line: to Toyama
Twinning
Sons and daughters of the town
- Hajime Furuta ( born 1947 ), politician
- Ryoji Ikeda (born 1966 ), a sound artist
- Hiroshi Oguri ( b. 1962 ), Physicist
- Hideo Okuda ( born 1959 ), author
- Makoto Raiku (* 1974), mangaka
- Masahiro Shinoda ( born 1931 ), director and screenwriter
- Kazuhiro Wada (born 1972 ), baseball player
Education
- Gifu University
Sports
Gifu is the home of the football club FC Gifu.
Since 2011 takes place in May of Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon instead.
Adjacent Cities and Towns
- Yamagata
- Seki
- Inuyama
- Hashima
- Mizuho
- Ogaki
- Motosu