6 Best Sights in Nagoya, Ise-Shima, and the Kii Peninsula, Japan

This castle, perched dramatically on top of Mt. Kinka, overlooks the city center and Nagara River. It's most striking when illuminated at night, backdropped by the mountain that changes color in fall. The current building dates from 1956 (the 16th-century structure was destroyed by an 1891 earthquake) and looks like a Japanese city office from the same era, though the view of Gifu from Mt. Kinka is worth the hike. A cable-car ride up from Gifu Park (¥1,100 round-trip) gets you to the castle in 10 minutes, or you can walk the 2.3-km (1½-mile) path to the 1,079-foot summit in about an hour. Take Bus N32, N41, N80, or N86 to Gifu Park (15 minutes, ¥220).

In Gifu Park, five minutes south of the cable-car station, sits this well-presented hands-on-museum, with exhibits covering Gifu from the prehistoric age through to feudal and pre-modern Japan. On the second floor you can dress up in traditional clothing and play old Japanese games such as bansugoroku (similar to backgammon).

Learn about the history of ukai fishing, in which fishermen use live cormorants to catch river fish, and the lives of the odd-looking birds at the center of it, at this smart museum alongside the Nagara River. It's near the Ryokan Sugiyama, a six-minute walk from the Ukai-ya bus stop.

Located in Gifu Park, this small museum houses disturbingly large beetles, colorful butterflies, and other bugs.

Seki has a 700-year-old sword-manufacturing heritage, and you'll appreciate the artistry and skill of Japanese sword smiths at this museum. Three types of metal are used to form blades, which are forged multiple times and then beaten into shape with a hammer. Demonstrations are held on the first Sunday of each month, except in October, when special displays occur during the Seki Cutlery Festival in the middle of the month. Seki is 30 minutes northeast of Gifu via the Meitetsu Minomachi Line.

This small temple is rather run-down, but it houses Japan's third-largest Buddha, which you can often view with no other visitors in sight. This imposing incarnation of Shaka Nyorai (Great Buddha) is 45 feet tall and constructed of pasted-together paper sutra (prayers) coated with clay and stucco and then lacquered and gilded; it took 38 years to complete. From Gifu Park, walk two blocks south.