岐阜
Gifu
岐阜 · ぎふ
Prefecture
Chubu
Kanji Literal Meaning
"Mountain Mound (Named by Oda Nobunaga)"
True Etymology
The name was personally chosen by Oda Nobunaga in 1567 after he captured Inabayama Castle. He took two Chinese place names: 岐 from 岐山 (Mount Qi in China, where the Zhou dynasty originated) and 阜 from 曲阜 (Qufu, birthplace of Confucius). By combining these two culturally resonant Chinese names, Nobunaga declared his ambition to unify Japan as the Zhou dynasty had unified China.
Alternative Theory
Before Nobunaga's renaming, the city was called 'Inabayama' (稲葉山, rice-leaf mountain). The renaming to 'Gifu' was a calculated political statement—Nobunaga's first use of Chinese classical references to frame his unification project in a global civilizational context.
Key Facts
| Capital | Gifu City |
|---|---|
| Region | Chubu |
| Reading | ぎふ |
| Pre-Meiji Domains | Owari Domain (Nobunaga's territory), Ogaki Domain |
| Domain Lords | Oda clan (織田氏), Toda clan (戸田氏) |
| Established | 1871-present |