Gifu Course Overview
Gifu is the sixth prefecture, and is home to 410,000 people. The prefecture is covers 203 square kilometers, and is located in the center of Japan. Nagara River and Mt. Kinka are located in the middle of the prefecture. Gifu is known for Ukai (cormorant fishing), which has been a tradition for over 1300 years. The famous warlord Oda Nobunaga used Gifu as a staring point in his efforts to unify Japan. (58)
The prefecture is divided into two main regions Hida in the north and Mino in the south. The Hida area is known for it’s mountains and becoming covered in snow in the winter. Mino area is famous for vast plains and flowing rivers.(59)
The Gifu route starts at Shimoakutami Station
(下芥見駅), and takes you to Matsuo Pond (松尾池), Kegonji Temple (華巌寺), and Hiyoshi Shrine (日吉神社). The route ends at Tōrinji Temple (東林寺), before entering Mie Prefecture.
The website guides serve as an over view of each prefectural course the Ebook goes into much more detail about each section, this is because the prefectural courses offer multiple routes.
The course overview of each prefecture shows the outline of the course, and some of the major points of interest. The Tokai trail offers many different routes, and the maps, even those on the trail, do not always show all courses. To address this issues I wrote a free guidebook that covers the complete trail.