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Beautiful off-the-beaten-path spot near samurai castle in rural Japan looks like a Monet painting

Casey Baseel Aug 12, 2026
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Here’s today’s reason not to skip Gifu in your Japan travel plans.

As Japan becomes an increasingly popular destination for international travelers, there’s also a growing sense that some of the country’s most famous prefectures are becoming so crowded that their appeal is starting to fade. At the same time, this means there’s value in taking the time to search for cool places that aren’t on the typical Japan travel itinerary, and doing that today once again brings us to Gifu Prefecture.

We recently visited the Enbaragawa River, a beautiful waterway in Gifu’s Yamagata City. Today, we’re heading further south in Gifu, closer to the border with Aichi Prefecture, for a stop in the town of Kakamigahara.

As with the Enbaragawa River, we’re not here for a glitzy luxury travel hot spot, but a quiet place of tranquil beauty. And while it might not immediately seem like there’s such a place to be found on this narrow strip of rural backroad, right about where you spot this vinyl-sided greenhouse…

…if you cross over to the other side of the street you’ll find a crystalline waterway that’s beautiful enough to be a painting.

We’re not the only ones who feel that way, either. Among those who know about this place, it’s often referred to as being a real-life Monet pond because of how much it looks like it could be one of the works of the Impressionist artist.

The water here is so clear that you can see down to every little pebble at the bottom, and when fish swim, it can play tricks on your eyes and make you think for a second that they’re floating in the air.

This stream is actually part of the Hashima Irrigation Canal, and it owes its clarity in part to an annual dose of oyster shells placed in it to naturally absorb and filter out impurities from the water.

As a result, the koi that live in the canal looked very happy on the day we visited, and presented us with a parade of fish in dazzling gold, bright white, and sleek black.

We were especially impressed when this aquatic quintet came swimming by in formation, as if they were showing off since they saw we had our camera out.

Since it’s an irrigation canal, the water here is always gently flowing, and not only does this create a gently soothing vibe, it also means that the way the light plays off the water is always subtly shifting. This means that every picture you snap is going to have its own unique feel to it, and even just sitting on the nearby bench and watching the canal is a unique mix of stimulation and relaxation.

▼ The section of the canal we visited

The town of Kakamigahara itself isn’t exactly bursting with other sightseeing spots, but the canal isn’t too far from the Kisogawa Lookout Point, which has nice views of the surrounding area…

▼ Route from Hashima Irrigation Canal to Kisogawa Lookout Point

…and it’s also just a quick hop across the river to Inuyama Castle, which features one of Japan’s oldest original samurai stronghold towers.

▼ Route from Hashima Irrigation Canal to Inuyama Castle

So yes, even if you missed out on this year’s Holy Fungus Mud Volleyball tournament, Gifu is still worth a visit.

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