Of samurais, geishas, gold and showers

The title of this post could easily be mistaken for that of a cheap sex novel, and this is purely intentional. However, it has no bearing on the content.

Kanazawa is renowned for its quaint architecture and paved streets, unchanged in many hundreds of years, not unlike its better known counterpart, Kyoto, but on a miniature scale.

Very miniature. There are essentially two areas with these old streets, and each of them the size of a postage stamp. The first is called the samurai quarter (pictures 2&3), and the second the geisha tea house area (4&5). Within 4&5 there are a number of shops of varying quality and interest, but the one that caught my eye is called Hakuza, which makes beautifully crafted woodwork with gold and platinum leaf applied.

This even extends to an area of the shop which is a replica of the Golden Tea Room of Hideyoshi Toyotomi (a C16th daimyo or warlord) which is covered in the gold leaf - 40,000 sheets of it, (top picture and inside, the second picture).

There were a number of rather enticing products, which were given varying degrees of consideration, including the usual clincher in our household - "let's think about it" - during which time I can usually talk myself out of it, or lose interest completely. Sadly for the shop's sales, this is what transpired.

Edo garden

Kenrokuen has the characteristics of a typical Edo period landscape garden. The original house and garden burned down in 1759. The restored garden was ordered by the 11th lord Harunaga in the 1770s, and his successor, the 12th lord constructed another villa, and asked that the garden be named. The name derives from the six attributes of a perfect landscape: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourses and panoramas. I think the garden incorporates all of these charmingly, and strolling through them was certainly a highlight of our visit to Kanazawa.

After the abolition of the feudal system in 1874, the garden was opened to the public. It had formerly been the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle, (second last picture), which can be viewed from the last picture, where a short row of pretty architecturally-pleasing shops hides their usual tourist tat.

The embers of autumnal colours on the maple trees gave a welcome fillip to the threatening grey skies, which produced their worst the following day.