Our Day in Gifu (by Maura and Kara)

We arrived in a town called Gifu last night after a long day of travel. Here everyone travels by

The caretaker of this shrine gave us treats!

train so we were on and off trains for four hours. It was long but worth what we did today.

Today’s adventures included a late morning, a breakfast of bananas, yogurt and croissants, tours of temples and shrines, a cable car ride, a castle, watching the finals of the sumo wrestling tournament, a nap, and a great dinner.

Shobo-ji Temple (by Maura)

One of the major religions in Japan is Buddhism. The centeral figure in Buddhism is known as the Buddha. We have seen statues of the Buddha nearly

One of three "Great Buddhas" in Japan

everywhere we have gone.

Shobo-ji Temple is a famous temple that houses one of three of the biggest statues of Diabutsu (Great Buddha). It was beautiful!

The statue of the Buddha at Shobo-ji Temple was built between 1790 and 1828. It is almost 45 feet tall and is made of different types of wood including ginko tree wood and bamboo, clay, Buddhist scriptures, lacquer, and gold leaves. 

Gifu Castle (by Kara)

Later we went to a castle called Gifu Castle. It was built in 1201 on top of a mountain. So we took a cable car up to it. The castle was attacked many times so it was rebuilt and reclaimed by many different people. Today it stands as a museum.

Top of the castle

Messing around at Gifi-jo

Ice cream in Gifu Park