Gifu Seki Onsen

Seki, in the central Gifu Prefecture on the Nagara River tributary valleys, is internationally recognized as Japan's most important cutlery and blade manufacturing city, its traditional sword-smithing heritage dating from the fourteenth century when master swordsmiths settled in Seki for its excellent iron, charcoal, and clay resources, creating a continuous tradition of steel cutting tools that continues today in the production of premium kitchen knives and scissors sold worldwide. Gifu Seki Onsen draws on sodium and bicarbonate thermal waters from the geological resources of the central Gifu valley zone, offering restorative baths in Japan's blade capital whose extraordinary cutlery heritage is celebrated at the Seki Cutlery Hall, the traditional swordsmith workshops, and the annual Seki Cutlery Festival. The Seki Cutlery Hall demonstrating seven centuries of Japanese blade-making heritage, the Seki Traditional Cutlery Street with its knife and scissors specialty shops, and the Bizen-ji Temple where traditional sword-smithing prayers are still offered in the ancient metalworking religious tradition make Seki an outstandingly craft-distinguished and historically layered thermal spa destination in central Gifu Prefecture.