Kanazawa

The train ride from Kyoto to Kanazawa was very scenic taking us through the Japanese Alps. Kanazawa encompasses Japanese history beyond shrines and temples offering the best preserved Edo-period type buildings in the country. Kanazawa has geisha, samurai, as well as other types of districts all centrally located to one another as well as one of Japan’s Top 3 Gardens.

On arrival we discovered the coolest clock ever; the time and messages were displayed using small water fountains.

We finally make it to our charming guest house that was used as a kimono shop 100 years ago. Once settled we headed out to Higashi-Chayamachi (the geisha district), but we knew one rarely sees an actual geisha. The traditional teahouses around the area were beautiful to see with their sliding paper doors and bamboo covered windows.

The Kenroku-en Gardens, while not in full bloom were pleasant to walk around. The garden is known as the Garden of Six Attributes, which comes from the ancient Chinese books on gardens. The attributes are described in pairs as spaciousness & seclusion, artifice & antiquity, water-courses & panoramas.

The Kotoji stone latern has two legs resembling the Kotoji bridge, “the bridge on a koto” (not really sure what a koto is…). However, the scene around the lantern is one of the highlights around the entire garden.

Japanese gardens are interesting as most of the trees are supported by polls to form the tree in an aesthetic away. It seems counterintuitive to think the rods are helping the image of the tree rather than distracting from it.

We had to sprint through the Kanazawa Castle gardens before our train, but it was worth the effort to view the castle surrounds.