Chugoku, Kansai, and Chubu Itinerary Help

I have a week and a half trip planned for the Chugoku and Kansai Regions. I had initially planned on adding Hida and Takayama to the trip, but this would add a lot of travel time where I'd essentially lose a day to the train. Ideally, I'd replace these days with not Kyoto.

General Trip Outline:

1 Flight Lands Osaka*

2 Osaka

3 Okayama*

4 Hiroshima

5 Himeji

6 Kinosaki*

7 Kinosaki

8 Hida* travel

9 Hida

10 Hida

11 Nagoya*

12 Flight

Asterisk indicates where I plan on lodging. So stay in Okayama with day trips to Hiroshima and Himeji. The Kinosaki to Hida travel is what kills it. I don't have a return flight booked yet, so the trip also doesn't have to end with Nagoya, that was just what was most convenient when the plan originally took shape on the map. While I'd love to visit this area, it just seems silly to add it to this trip when I can do another, more central trip in the future.

If you were to replace Hida/Gifu Prefecture with a smaller town, what would you suggest? Thanks.