Information Revolution

The town dates back to the Kamakura period, when Saito Dozan built his Mt Inaba Castle there. It was soon one of the main cities of Mino. In the ninth lunar month of 1567, Nobunaga seized the place in the first step of his campaign to reunify all the Japanese states. Nobunaga renamed the castle and the town of Inokuchi below it, ‘Gifu’, and began work on expanding both, and inviting skilled craftsmen into the city. The population soon rose to about 10,000. Its vibrancy is described by Luis Frois in his famous account of Japan, where (not entirely positively) he likened it to Babylon. Nobunaga welcomed the missionaries and in the time of his son Nobutada permitted a church and seminary to be built, then also a hospital and orphanage.