Kanazawa, Japan

Today we spent a few hours in Kanazawa. This city is known for Kanazawa Castle, which was established in 1580 and the Kenrokuen Garden, which is generally regarded as being one of the top gardens in Japan. Naturally, we had to go see them.

Once again we used the local bus system to get around. Easy to use and inexpensive.

We started at the Kenrokuen Garden, which is in the standard garden from the Edo period (1603-1868). It originally (1600s) was the outer garden of the Kanazawa Castle but later was moved into the castle grounds by the latter part of that century. The garden has been restored multiple times since then and over time various streams and ponds were created. The name of the garden is a reference from a 19th century book on Japanese gardens and relates to the six attributes of an ideal Japanese landscape garden: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourses,and panoramas. The garden is beautiful…but different than we think of with American or European gardens. Emphasis is on greenery and water, rather than our usual emphasis on flowers. That said, in the spring they do have cherry blossoms and plum blossoms along with irises. The garden includes some trees that are 100+ years old and the oldest fountain in Japan (1861…not fancy, simply an upward spout of water). It is definitely a place worth visiting.

Right next to the garden is Kanazawa Castle. It originally dates back to 1546, although the current buildings date from the 1700s-1800s. It was the residence of the Maeda lord of Kaga Domain until 1869 and was an army base during WWII. It is a massive structure: white, black, and stone. The roof is white, made of lead tiles. There are a couple of other gardens adjacent to the castle including the Gyokusen’inmaru Garden, named after the wife of a feudal lord, and the Sannomaru Park, where the castle’s reflection is seen in a pond. Another site well worth visiting.

From there we walked to a couple of shrines: the Oyama Jinja Shrine, where there was a small ceremony in progress, and the Ozaki Jinja Shrine, where they appeared to be doing some archaeologic excavations. Both were small but were different in design and structure from each other.

That was our day. Not a long time on shore, but worth while.