Kanazawa? Can he ever!

The colours of a lovely garden

Kanazawa for us was a land of sneaky ninja temples, re-invented castles, beautiful gardens, the freedom of a bicycle and the height of space-efficiency. Whilst here Kat also did some research work.


A great highlight of Kanazawa was visiting the "ninja temple".  It earns double-quotes because it has nothing specific to do with ninjas, rather than it has a number of very smart in-built defense systems, its true name is Myoryuji.  To visit, you must book ahead and go on a tour, and the tour is only available in Japanese, but that should absolutely not deter non-Japanese speakers.  Being "forced" into a tour seems a little over the top at first, but I assure you, it makes the experience more enjoyable, for you could not really learn all of the elements simply from a guide book.  Our guide gave us an English picture book, for want of a better word, that contains photos and a rough English translation of what she was saying in  Japanese in each room we visited.  The most important part of being on a tour was that they could control the number of people in any room, meaning we could definitely get to see each of the tricks employed throughout the building, up close.  

No photos in the ninja temple - but we got this
Plum Flower family crest outside

The simplest tricks were probably trapdoors that couldn't be seen by a person coming from a bright room to a dark one.  Others employed were paper coverings over the vertical parts of the stairs.  Defenders could lie in wait while the attacker walked up the stairs, and the defender could spear the attackers' ankles and feet based on the silhouettes on the paper. 

The buildings of the time period were only allowed to be three storeys, so the Maeda lords incorporated a deceptive architecture that made it look outside like there were only 3, but there were really 7 levels on the inside - something they achieved through hidden stairways and other lighting tricks.  There were escape tunnels that were sealed by the action of the attacker opening the door over the very trapdoor the defender had escaped through.  It is said that the well conceals a tunnel that runs all the way through to the castle, so that the lords could be warned of any attack.  Basically, if you saw it in The Last Samurai (which is 12 years old!), we saw it here.  A highly recommended visit!

While in Kanazawa, we visited the much feted samurai district where you can see inside some reconstructed/maintained samurai foot-soldier homes which were remarkable.  The use of space and light and the arrangements of the gardens were beautiful, and the whole area was very peaceful with free or low entry prices to the various homes along the creek.

A "backyard" garden in the samurai district

The giant ice-cream sandwich

Geisha-spotting appears to be a common spectator sport amongst people visiting Japan, and the geisha district of Kanazawa is full of people hoping to get lucky, their cameras ever at the ready.  It is also an area of fine restaurants, arts, crafts and beautiful buildings (and ginormous ice-cream sandwiches!).  We actually visited at a few different times of day to see it from different perspectives.  Teeming with shoppers and visitors throughout the day, it appears abandoned at night, although you can hear the laughter and clinking of glasses through the doors and paper-thin walls.  Another great place to visit.  

Geisha district by night

In between our Geisha district visits, we found a cute little sushi bar where we were treated to a performance in the preparation of our meal.  We also provided a source of conversation and entertainment for the other customers bored with the sumo wrestling on the TV.  The sushi-chef and his wife visited Melbourne on their honeymoon 20 years ago!

Kenrokuen Gardens

The Kanazawa castle and nearby Kenrokuen Gardens provided lovely walks, and the castle was playing host to a kind of marathon event.  It was on for young and old, the competitors had great costumes and kids would run alongside their parents cheering them on.  



The castle looks re-invigorated and re-energised compared with many I have seen in the past (granted, I was 10 years old for most of them and they were European), but it seems that the people of Kanazawa have gone to some effort to continually keep the castle and its grounds relevant in a changing world.  The gardens were a busy place that you have to share with others, I would just loved to have been there without other tourists and visitors to truly absorb it.  It was splendid in springtime, but it would be great to see in winter with snow sitting on the tops of the branches, adding decoration to an already well-coordinated retreat.

Kenrokuen Gardens

If I had a castle, I'd make it look like this

We got around using the Machi-nori - Kanazawa's bike share system.  So simple and accessible, it gave us a freedom from bus timetables and routes but did not stop us from getting lost!

Kat takes over the streets in the geisha at dusk

Our stay at Ochakare Guest House was alright, we marvelled (because we weren't staying in them) at the closets off the common room that had somehow been turned into additional bunk beds.  Dorms can be annoying at the best of times with people coming in at any hour, sometimes considerate, sometimes not.  However when someone is sleeping on the other side of a sliding door while you are trying to eat breakfast, work or figuring out what's happening the next day, it can be a bit limiting.  That's Japan though, the best possible use of the space is being made and you can't begrudge anyone that.

Geisha district by night