A Day in Kanazawa - Not Enough

 

Gojukken Nagaya - Long Storehouse of Kenrokuji

We only have one full day in Kanazawa. As I wrote yesterday, it would be worth spending more time in Kanazawa, but we have a schedule to keep. Being good Japanese tourists (not really), we are going for the highlights - the restored KENROKUJI castle, the surrounding very nice park, and an associated garden which the old Maeda created to gather plants from all over Japan.

The castle has become the center of a really nice city park, Zenrokuen. The grounds around it are filled with wide open spaces - when we were walking through there were a number of elementary school student groups having classes (well, playing, which is learning) in the grand meadow.

Much of the current castle are reconstructions. It has been the subject of a lot of fires, with a major blaze in the 1880s taking out everything but this gate - Ishikawamon - and the two guard towers at either end of the long storehouse (the picture at the start). The major portion of the reconstruction has been done since the 1990s, when Kanazawa University moved to a new location freeing the old castle grounds for the reconstruction - which continues.

My suspicion, which I haven't really tried to establish beyond the patterns at other sites like this, is that the Maeda clan, being strongly tied to the Tokugawa Shoganate, came out on the wrong side of favor during the Meiji Restoration. At other sites of Tokugawa strongholds we've visited - Osaka Castle, Hikone, Hakodate, for example - they document the burning of the holdings of the families loyal to the Tokugawas during this period (1860s was the revolution with repercussions continuing through the Meiji period). Replacing the old Maeda castle with a new National university would fit the pattern. Modern restoration efforts is also part of the pattern.

Kenrokuen is considered one of the three best gardens in Japan. It was build and grown during the Tokugawa period by the Maeda clan. The various leaders of the clan over time added elements, often to represent poems and other literary references. It was meant as a place to wander in contemplation. 

Now that includes wandering by young Japanese in rented Kimono or Yukatas to get a feel for historic  times.Like Kyoto, there is a big business rending Kimonos to visitors.

Lunch break - Gluten-free vegan place found by our guide to all things gluten-free vegan. The place is called Los Angeles and is pretty good. Turns out the owner and his brothers started a couple of Japanese vegan places in LA and this brother came back to their home town where he set up their own branch. They gave us a card to the places in LA, which Marie' will visit at some time :-)

On to Higashi Chaya, the old, preserved Edo era section of Kanazawa. This is where you see lots of both rental kimono tourists and folks who regularly wear them. 

It is filled with the more traditional crafts shops (and lots of tourist shops) showing off the sake, pottery and gold/silver leaf crafts Kanazawa is famous for.

That's it for now. As always, there are a lot more pictures in the Google Photos Album at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HnowvEvspoYrGCC98