Gifu

Gifu Prefecture's Nagaragawa Fireworks Festival launches shells above the crystal-clear Nagara River, whose water reflects the burst patterns in sharp detail beneath the silhouette of Gifu Castle on Kinkazan hill. As one of the Tokai region's cleanest rivers, the Nagara provides a reflection stage that many other venues cannot match, and the summer cormorant fishing tradition of ukai adds cultural depth to the evening.