A Trip to Kanazawa. Day 1 - July 7, 2013

My teaching time in Japan is swiftly coming to an end and though I am going on a 12 day tour of the country before flying home, there was still one place that I wanted to visit before my time was up.

I was quite lucky to still have 4 days of paid vacation left and I decided to take advantage of that and take some time off and get away prior to the start of the crazy hectic Summer School schedule starts. With my vacation approved I decided on visiting the city of Kanazawa.

A Man Hole cover

During training one of my fellow teachers, Kacie, had been living in Kanazawa and had told me how great of a city it was and that I should check it out. I had kept that in mind and finally got around to planning the trip.  After booking the trip Kacie got in contact with me and said that she would be happy to spend time with me and show me around a little while I was in the city. It was a stroke of luck that I chose this time as she is heading home just like I am.

Kanazawa is the capital of the Ishikawa prefecture, which is located on the shore of the Sea of Japan. It is referred to as a little Kyoto because of its preserved historical districts and its geisha districts. The city was once one of the richest areas outside of the shogunate, it was ruled over by Maeda family and their influence shaped the city. Initially built with defence in mind the city was home to a powerful feudal lord and samurai, it was because of this that it was soon thought to be a political and military rival to the shogun. The Maeda family though sought to protect the city through developing the arts and culture. It is because of this support of the arts that Kanazawa has such a great tie to the arts. In fact the city produces 99% of all the gold leaf used within in Japan. Through the Maeda family’s patronage of the arts the city was seen as less of a threat militarily and it allowed the city to grow and develop into the cultural asset it is today.

A small sample of Gold Leaf

I arrived on Sunday late in the afternoon and settled into my hotel. With that done I looked up a little bit about the city and how best to get around to see the different things. I also marked down the different places that I wanted to see during my 3 days. With that done I took a walk to the train station. Which I know doesn’t sound to impressive, but the main entrance to the station has a giant torii built with intricately woven wood. It also has this wonderful fountain that displays a welcome message and the time.

With Sunday drawing to a close I ate a quick dinner and then it was off to bed for an early wake up the next day to meet my friend. I’m separating my blog posts into one for each day so it’s not overwhelming to read with all the photos. And as always you can check out all my photos from my year in Japan on my Facebook page.