Kamigare Tea Terraces

What sets Kamigare Tea Terraces apart from other natural sites in Gifu is how much depends on conditions outside anyone's control.

Kasuga, in the mountains of western Gifu, has grown tea since the sixteenth century, and at Kamigare the fields climb a slope so steep that from the viewpoint opposite they stack into what looks like terracing on a mountainside in the Andes. Locally it is called the Machu Picchu of Gifu, which is the kind of comparison that is usually an exaggeration and here is not far off.

Getting there is the filter. The last three kilometres are a single-lane town road with real gradient, the free car park holds about fifteen vehicles, and from it the walk to the viewpoint takes about twenty minutes on a path that becomes a mountain trail in places. Villagers direct parking and lend bamboo staffs at the bottom. There is a portable toilet and nothing else.