5/8/24: Kanazawa's Castle Park, Samurai District & Canals - What a Treat!

In the previous post on Kanazawa, I wrote about the importance of crafts and gold leaf in the city with the Maeda lords even promoting crafts over warfare. After only being able to admire the inviting-looking crafts in the closed shops yesterday afternoon after museum- and garden-hopping, we made sure to visit both the Ishikawa Prefectural Products Center and the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum for Traditional Products and Crafts first thing the next day. Both sold items the prefecture or state or province was famous for including lacquerware, pottery, and glassware. The former shop also sold yummy-looking foodstuffs packaged only as exquisitely as the Japanese do.

We were almost mobbed by about 100 schoolchildren in the shop until they dispersed to participate in various craft classes!

These students were about to work on a project in the Gilding Workshop.

I really liked the Kaga Hachiman Okiagari or self-righting doll that represented a baby in red swaddling clothes. They're popular in Kanazawa as lucky charms, serving as prayers for the growth and happiness of children.

NEVER too early in the day for a gold leaf ice cream cone, Kanazawa's local specialty! In case you're wondering, I couldn't taste the edible gold leaf at all.

A sign outside one shop indicated that it had been destroyed during the 2024 New Year's Day Wajima Earthquake and asked shoppers to patronize its lacquerware, glass, and ceramics items. We saw no evidence of, or reference to, earthquake damage elsewhere in Kanazawa.

This store's umbrella sales were a booming business, no doubt because the city gets 160 rainy days a year. That inspired a local proverb visitors are wise to heed: "Even if you forget your packed lunch, don't forget your umbrella."

Kanazawa Castle, designated as a national historical site in 2008, overlooked much of the city from its hilly area. Since 1583, it belonged to the powerful Maeda clan for fourteen generations. Most of the castle's buildings were lost in 1759 in the biggest fire the castle town had ever seen. We entered the castle via its southwest corner and the massive castle grounds that, in modern times, were used as a military base first, then a university campus before being opened to the public as a park in 2001. 

I'm sure the castle's Shisseien Water Garden would have looked even lovelier in clear weather but we had a decent view in the distance of Hashizumemon Gate, built following a fire in 1631 as the front gate of the second enclosure.

Surprisingly, the roof tiles were made of lead in case they needed to be melted down for musket balls in an emergency.

Closer views of the gate:

With the help of ancient documents and photos, two turrets, a gate, and the Sanjikkennagaya Storehouse were accurately reconstructed using traditional Japanese construction techniques after the great fire of 1808. 

The castle's only remaining original structure was the Ishikawamon Gate across from Kenroukuen Garden we'd toured the previous day. The gate was most easily accessed via a bridge over a busy thoroughfare which gave us a sense of the size of the original Maeda castle. Known as one of the Three Imperial Gates, it's been designated as a National Important Cultural Property.

We detoured to hike from a long stone wall down to Gyokusen-Inmaru Garden, the home of the second feudal lord's wife. As there were about 65 feet from the pond to the top of the stone wall, the garden had a distinctively three-dimensional feel. Unfortunately, entry to the picturesque garden was forbidden so we could only view it from an overlook.

Some long steps led to the Oyama Jinja Shrine's East Gate built in the kara-mon style, described as a sophisticated style of Japanese gate named for the distinctive shape of the roofs. The gate led to a residence within the castle.

The shrine, dedicated to the second Maeda lord, was built in 1599 on Mt. Utatsu before being relocated to its current location. It's most famous for the unusual main gate built in 1875 that was designed by a Dutch architect with its Dutch-style stained-glass windows on the upper level as it once served as a lighthouse. It was interesting to note the fusion of European and Asian religious themes. 

Looking back at the shrine's main gate:

The canal in front of Oyama Jinja Shrine was originally part of the inner western city wall believed to have been built in 1599 by the second Maeda lord. The wall formed a defensive perimeter around Kanazawa Castle and the surrounding town. In 1632, the third Maeda lord established the Tatsumi Canal to bring water from the upper reaches of the Saigawa River to the castle. In 1875, the portion of the city wall in front of the shrine had been significantly narrowed and was used as a canal instead. Around 1950, it was covered and converted into an underground canal as it is today. Part of the canal in front of the shrine was uncovered and restored with an open stream. 

Not far away was Kanazawa's Nagamachi Samurai District, a few streets lined with lovely wooden homes mostly hidden behind mustard-yellow mud walls and bordered by canals that remained from the Edo period. The higher ranked the samurai, the higher the walls whereas the lowest ranked only had hedges. After strolling through the city's geisha district the day before, we were inquisitive about what a feudal castle town might have looked like, even on a much-reduced scale.

The Maeda lords had as many as 8,000 samurai attendants, each of whom had their own, thus making the samurai population large. We stopped by the Ashigaru Kinekan consisting of two modest homes to see how the lowest military class lived. The size and style of homes in the feudal era were determined by a family's class and rank. The Shimizu House had the structure of a typical foot soldier house or ashigaru and was lived in from the feudal period to 1990. During the Edo period, the ashigaru often lived in rows of tenement housing called magaya, literally longhouses. In more prosperous times, they were given detached houses which together with economic opportunities made the area attractive to ashigaru.  

The ashigaru were conscripted in times of war and often used in military units as archers and riflemen during the Warring States Period which lasted from 1467-1615. In addition to martial arts training, ashigaru's duties included assisting samurai families, carrying messages from the feudal domain to Edo (present-day Tokyo) or Kamigata, and gathering information. 

The Zashiki was a room used mainly for entertaining guests.

The Kagi-no-ma was an additional room used for various purposes.

The Cha-no-ma or living room and the kitchen after that:

There were no signs but the bedroom(s) must have been accessible by the ladder.

 I was surprised quite frankly how luxurious, relatively speaking, the accommodation appeared for the lowest-ranking samurai. 

Next door was the Takanishi House, the oldest standing foot soldier home in Kanazawa. Descendants of the original ashigaru owners lived in the home until 1994 when it was moved and became part of the Kanazawa Ashigaru Museum. 

Many homes in the Nagamachi area with their earthen walls lining the streets, private entrance gates, and gardens were the residences of middle-ranking samurai. The tawny stone and mud walls that lined the streets turned the neighborhood into a fortress. Each gate to the residences behind these walls was carefully constructed to close quickly and securely in the event of an attack.

As the cobblestone street came to an end, we came to a moat-lined road that protected the samurai district and supplied water to Kanazawa Castle from the nearby Sai River. The moats now serve as reservoirs and drains, maintaining the river’s water level to prevent flooding during rainier seasons. The one in the heart of Nagamachi is the Ohnosho Waterway, the oldest in the castle town, constructed around 1590 to bring large amounts of lumber used to build the castle from the port by floating it on the water. The canal also was used for irrigation, transportation of goods, extinguishing fires, defense, and melting snow.  It was positively charming and utterly relaxing strolling along the almost car-free lanes.

The water used for the ponds in the adjacent samurai homes comes from the canal. Square holes at the bottom of the original earthen walls permit water in from the canal to the gardens.

Open to visitors were the remains of the feudal period row house that belonged to the Takada family, members of the ruling clan. The nagaya-mon was the name of the samurai house gate placed in the center of a long row house. The house was restored so it and the garden were typical of the feudal period.

The chugen-no-ma were the lowest-ranking servants who worked in a samurai's house. The servants lived in a room like this next to the nagaya-mon and also served as gate-openers. 

Further down the lane was the Nomura Samurai House where we had a chance to see how one of the higher-ranked followers, Nomura Denbei Nobusada, lived after being granted by Lord Maeda Toshiie twelve hundred koku annual rice yield with each koku equivalent to 330 pounds of rice. The traditional Japanese home was occupied by eleven generations of the Nomura clan for 400 years. 

The cypress wood Jyodan-no-ma Chamber or drawing room showcased elaborate designs in rosewood and shoji screens painted with exquisite landscapes. The sliding, thick paper doors could be closed with a catch made of Indian ironwood.

Every nail in the alcove panel was kept out of sight with black persimmon wood.

One sliding door had a cut glass window that reflected the winding stream near the veranda.

If we'd had any cares wandering into the Nomura home, they were immediately dispelled upon viewing the charming garden. The stream ran through several stones and under a bridge made of cherry granite and by many-storied stone lanterns. I could see why many people just come to visit the garden!

It was as if we were kids again playing hopscotch across the rocks to access the upper level.

People were forced to bow before entering the tea-ceremony room! No tea ceremonies were offered when we visited.

A box for bush warblers was deliberately kept dark so the birds would sing!

A few minutes' walk away was the old Nakaya Pharmacy, the attached shinise or traditional merchant house, and one of the oldest shops in the Samurai District. Hikobei Nakaya began working with Chinese medicines in 1579 after receiving some special Chinese medicines from the 5th Maeda lord.

The traditional pharmacy storefront displayed the day-to-day business and where each member of the staff sat according to their rank.

Traditional medicines and other pharmacy supplies filled the rest of the storefront.

Only high-status merchant homes like the master pharmacist's had a tea ceremony room in their houses. The room was measured in the number of tatami or rush-covered straw mats used as a traditional Japanese floor covering. This tearoom was 4.5 tatami size and included a ro or hearth and a toko-no-ma or alcove and mizuya or room to prepare tea.

The lounge contained a hodgepodge of crafts related to the neighborhood. 

Kaga temari was a folk art handball with roots in the Edo period when girls only from noble ranks made their own balls to play with before it spread to all classes with the progress of the cotton industry. In Kanazawa, female servants in the castle were fascinated and started making the balls. To make kaga temari, string is rolled tightly around itself to make the base, and bright multicolored strings are then manipulated into fancy geometric patterns. The custom in Kanazawa is a kaga temari is given to a bride as a talisman against evil. I'm still hoping the Japanese post office hasn't lost the parcel we sent home as it included a kaga temari from Kanazawa!

The shin-no-ma room overlooked another beautiful garden.

Any candy lovers out there? If so, you'd have loved this candy tree entirely made of candy! The sweet work of art took craftsmen nine months to complete for the 1995 Japan Craft Confectionery Exhibition. The four birds and branches with 13,000 petals were made of rice flour, sugar, and gelatin in case you've got a hankering to make one yourself!

Though the city's Omicho Market was founded 300 years ago as "the kitchen of Kanazawa," it was still a thriving city market with over 170 stalls selling vegetables, fruit, and seafood in addition to eat-on-the-go foods like grilled eel! Too bad we arrived too late to see it as busy as it would have been earlier in the day.

Though we just had a whirlwind visit to Kanazawa, it was delightful in every respect and a calm in the storm before the craziness of a week in Kyoto beginning that night. If you think about heading to Japan, I hope you'll also look at exploring the castle city of Kanazawa, its geisha and samurai districts, the famous Kenroukuen Garden, its canals, and great shopping!

Scenes of rice fields en route to Kyoto two hours away via the Super Express Shinkansen Thunderbird or bullet train:

Our grandchildren would have loved seeing the dinosaur mural outside Fukui.

We are so used to wide open spaces here in the US when you get away from the big cities, that seeing the unending sprawl from the train was unnerving.

The expanse of farmland was definitely not the norm!

We had just eight minutes to change trains AND train lines in Tsuruga to connect with the slow JR train heading to Kyoto. That may seem like plenty of time but it was a mad dash down 50 steps lugging our duffel bags and backpacks, and crossing through a transfer gate just in time to board the train. Phew, we made it!

We hadn't seen many foreigners in either Hakone or Kanazawa but the train to Kyoto was choc-a-block full of tourists like us. It was a tad strange.

The lovely Sea of Japan was our companion for a long distance as we journeyed to Kyoto.

Kyoto, here we come!

Next post: Getting a handle on Kyoto at its Sanjusanguendo Hall, Kiyomizu Temple, & Koda-ji Temple.

Posted on June 26th, 2024, from the heat wave hitting us here in Colorado and so much of the US. Wishing you and your loved ones good health and some cooler temperatures in the days ahead.