Kanazawa is a beautiful Japanese city with about 462,000 inhabitants. It is located in Ishikawa prefecture, west-northwest of Tokyo. It is well known for the beautiful Kenrokuen, a garden that is considered one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, Kanazawa Castle, pre-modern Higashi Chaya district, Kanazawa station and more.

On my trip to Japan in November 2014 I went to Kanazawa, visiting all the aforementioned spots and also the fish market.

This is the second of two posts. For the first one, featuring Kanazawa Station, the fish market, Chirihama ocean road and more, please click here.

Kenrokuen

As mentioned before, Kenrokuen is one of Japan’s three most beautiful gardens. It is located next to Kanazawa castle, so it is convenient to visit both of them on the same day. To list all of its features would go beyond the scope of this article. So instead, please take a look at the pictures and the beautiful colors of Japanese nature in late fall.

The entrance fee to Kenrokuen is ¥310, or ¥500 for the Kenrokuen plus one ticket, which allows access to another attraction of your choice, such as Kanazawa castle.

Find Kenrokuen here on Google maps.

Yukitsuri

In fall and winter Yukitsuri can be observed in Kenrokuen and many other parts of Japan. In order to prevent the branches of trees from breaking from snow, they are supported by ropes that are attached to bamboo poles. I was really surprised to see this much effort being put into protecting trees, something I had never seen in Europe before. In addition to protecting the trees, Yukitsuri also gives them a very nice tepee-like look.

Kanazawa Castle

Kanazawa Castle is located next to Kenrokuen. It burned down and was rebuild several times. Today the reconstruction of the original buildings of the castle is an ongoing effort. Right now a large storehouse named Gojikken Nagaya and two watch towers, Hishi Yagura and Tsuzuki Yagura, as well as the castle’s main entrance gate have been rebuilt. Two other storehouses and the Ishikawa-mon gate, which faces Kenrokuen, have survived until today. In 2015 another gate and the Gyokuseninmaru where added to the castle.

Summary

Kanazawa was really worth the visit and I connect only precious moments with it. If you are interested in the beauty of Japanese gardens, Architecture, castles, fish markets or essentially anything else Japanese, I’d suggest you to give it a try.

What is your favorite area in Japan? Please let me know in the comment section below.