Finding Old Japan In Kanazawa

We’d spent two weeks dodging crowds in Kyoto, before all the bustle of the Takayama Festival, and were definitely in need of a much slower pace….. Enter Kanazawa, somewhere we hadn’t really researched all that much, somewhere that surprised us!

It’s a compact city, that’s easy to navigate. Packed with beautiful gardens, temples, shrines and museums, and the historic geisha and samurai districts are especially well preserved and picturesque, even rivaling those of Kyoto’s Higashiyama district.

Kanazawa was also an important center for art and culture during the Edo period, and this can be experienced though the cities many museums, workshops and art and craft shops. Here you can buy all manner of traditional Japanese crafts ranging from gold leaf products and pottery to Japanese sweets and Shikki lacquerware.

Kanazawa is the prefectural capital of Ishikawa and is located in northern Honshu’s Chubu region. It’s easily accessible from both Kyoto and Osaka by train, and you can easily get there from Tokyo in under 3 hours by Shinkansen on the JR Hokuriku line.

We’d recommend spending 2 full days in Kanazawa but if you’re rushed on time you can see all the major areas in one day or perhaps missing out one or two spots.

Recommended Itinerary For Kanazawa

Day 1

Spend the morning exploring the Kenrokuen Gardens, before heading over to Kurando Terashima’s House. After a spot of lunch head over to the Kazuemachi Chayagai tea house area before taking a stroll down the river-side pathways towards Higashi Chaya District. Spend some time exploring the area before heading to the Tera-machi temple streets.

Once you’re all temple’d out head back down towards Higashi Chaya to see the streets lit up at night, and grab some dinner.

Day 2

Spend the morning exploring Kanazawa castle grounds and gardens, head towards the city for a spot of lunch and shopping before checking out Omicho market. Once you’re done there head over to Oyama shrine, spend some time enjoying the temple and gardens before heading to the samurai district. First head through the streets to visit the Nomura Clan samurai house. By the time you’ve finished there it should be golden hour and you can enjoy walking and photographing the streets in beautiful light.

To finish the day off your already in the perfect spot, and just a short walk away you’ll find all the bars and restaurants in the Nagamchi area, enjoy!

Best Things To Do In Kanazawa

Below we have listed the top spots to visit in the charming city of Kanazawa. We recommend visiting as many as you can to get the most out of your visit.

Photograph Kanazawa Station

We were a little disorientated but really impressed when we first stumbled out of Kanazawa Station, as there’s a huge, red Japanese style gate! The gate is located on the street entrance side of the station and it’s a great place to grab your first selfie in Kanazawa, or to photograph the stations unique architecture.

Kenrokuen Gardens

We recommend grabbing a spot of breakfast before heading Kanazawa’s main attraction in the morning hours as this was the only place we found to be quite busy. The beautifully landscaped gardens are said to be among the top 3 in Japan, we’d have to agree and were lucky enough to see them with an extra splash of color during the tail-end of cherry blossom season.

These gardens used to be the outer gardens of the castle and were constructed over a period spanning nearly two centuries. There is a large central pond with smaller outer ponds, islands and small bridges connecting up the pleasant walkways. The gardens cover a massive area around the pond, and you could easily get lost here for a few hours. Not a bad way to start the day off!

Geisha District

Although Kanazawa has three geisha districts in our opinion the best one to visit is Higashi Chaya District, this is also the most popular among locals and tourists alike. Chaya means teahouse, and this area was once full of teahouses. It was a place where the rich and wealthy would come to drink and be entertained by geishas, traditional music and dance.

It’s definitely quieter to visit these streets early in the morning, but head here late afternoon and you may catch a glimpse of a geisha, as she elegantly navigates the streets. The neighborhood is lined with old wooden buildings, many of which have been converted into small cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. There are also two geisha tea houses left in the area which are open to the public.

Samurai District

The Nagamachi samurai district is located at the foothills of the old castle site, and it’s where the samurai of the once powerful Maeda clan used to live.

The area is beautifully preserved and the houses here are still gated and protected by high stone and mud walls. It’s a great place to spend the afternoon exploring the narrow walkways and picturesque cobbled streets, imagining times of a bygone era. You can also visit one of the old preserved samurai houses in this area and there are plenty of places to stop for a tea or grab a bite along the way.

Samurai Houses

There are a number of samurai houses kept and well preserved in Kanazawa, we visited two of them.

Nomura Clan Samurai House

The Nomura samurai house was our favourite, inside you can find some interesting artifacts, samurai clothing and amour, swords and old documents and letters of instruction. The house is traditional in style, decorated with beautiful carvings and painted fusuma screen doors. The gardens here were beautiful, well kept and can be enjoyed from many parts of the house such as the tea room upstairs. Sitting on the edge of a wooden platform looking into the tranquil gardens you could really imagine how a samurai would come back to enjoy the peacefulness here.

Kurando Terashima’s House

The second house we visited was the home of Mr. Kurando Terashima, a middle class samurai retainer to the Maeda family. The building is now kept open as a museum and it offers visitors a great way to catch a glimpse of how life would have been during the middle of the Edo period

The house is well preserved and its gardens are beautiful and feature a nine wheel pagoda that Kurando made himself. There are also some items that belonged to Kurando kept on display in the house such as his painting-tool box and commander’s flag.

Kanazawa Castle

The castle dates back to the late 1500’s where it was the seat of the powerfull Maeda Clan all the way to the end of the Edo period. The Maeda Clan were second only to the Togukawa Clan in terms of domain size and wealth. Unfortunately the castle was destroyed by fire in 1881, and was later rebuilt in 2001.

We really enjoyed exploring the parks and grounds around the castle, which were made even more beautiful by the presence of cherry blossom trees. You can also enjoy views over Kanazawa from the castle’s park, and it’s a great place to get pictures of the grounds and outside of the castle. We really don’t think it’s worth paying to go inside the castle though as there’s not much to see, and we had visited much better castles during our time in Japan.

Enjoy Green Tea & Sweets

We stumbled into a beautiful, old wooden building when we were exploring the Higashi Chaya District. To our surprise it was a place that specialized in Japanese tea and sweets, and we couldn’t resist when we were greeted by a smiling old lady, that beckoned us to take a seat.

After enjoying our matcha tea and Japanese sweets the owner decided to show us around the rest of the building and the rooms upstairs, which were all beautifully decorated in traditional Japanese style. When we left the building she came outside to greet us farewell and gave us a parting gift with a pressed flower inside of it.

We couldn’t find the name of this place and it’s not listed anywhere on the internet but there are other places in this area where you can enjoy tea and Japanese sweets.

Oyama Shrine

There’s many shrines and temples to visit in Kanazawa but this one should definitely be on your list!

The shrine was dedicated to Meada Toshiie, the first lord of the powerful Maeda Clan, and is most notably known for its peculiar gate. The gate was designed by a dutch architect, it features a mix of European and Asian influences and once guarded the entrance to the palace of Kanazawa Castle, before being moved to Oyama Shrine.

There are also some nice strolling gardens featuring a large pond with wooden walkways, and you can find a statue depicted Lord Toshiie Maeda.

Explore Temples In The Tera-machi District

There are three temple districts in Kanazawa, but around 70 temples are located in close succession in the Tera-machi area.

We recommend visiting here after exploring the Higashi Chaya District as it’s a great way to escape the crowds and it’s only a few minutes walk from there. You can explore the charming temples and shrines as you make your way through the streets which are lined with mud and stone walls. A most notable feature of the buildings and temples in this area are the black roof tiles.

Omicho Market

This bustling, covered fresh food market has been around since the Edo Period. It consists of around 200 hundred stalls and shops mainly selling fresh seafood. You’ll also find various shops selling clothes, kitchenware and flowers.

Like with many fresh food markets, the best time to visit is in the morning. It can get really busy around noon when tourists and locals flock to the stalls and restaurants for a delicious seafood lunch. If you want to do the same, try to have an early lunch to avoid the queues.

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