Kanazawa: Of Ninjas and Gardens

WJ and I enjoyed Kanazawa. It was away from the bustling crowds and peaceful, but still had the convenience of Osaka. You could easily find a restaurant, a clothing store and plenty of convenience stores. And best off all, we could walk to most of the sights easily!

The places we couldn’t walk to, we took a bus. Unfortunately, the bus system is extremely confusing and we had a bit of trouble figuring out which buses went where. But nothing patience couldn’t solve!

Where We Went To

Higashi Chaya District

We didn’t manage to spot many geishas in Kyoto, so we thought to try our luck at Higashi Chaya District too. It’s the largest ancient entertainment district in Kanazawa.

There are two teahouses, Shima Teahouse and Kaikaro Teahouse, open to the public. After glancing at their prices, we decided to just explore other parts of the district. We didn’t have that big a budget!

After buying some cakes and walking around the district, we still did not spot a single maiko or geisha. Plan failed again…

Myoryuji Temple

Myoryuji Temple, also known as Ninja Temple, was one of our must-gos for Kanazawa. I thought there would be ninjas around.

How wrong I was.

But even though there were no ninjas appearing out of nowhere (like in the movies), we learnt a lot about the Myoryuji Temple. First of all, no, there were never ninjas in the temple. It is actually a 4-storey building built to look like a 2-storey. And that’s not where the trickery ends.

The whole temple is filled with trapdoors, secret entrances and mystery! You have to give it to the Japanese for being this innovative centuries ago! Because the building is so old, we weren’t allowed to take pictures or bring big bags inside.

Even though the tour was conducted in Japanese, the staff gave us a file with explanations in English so weren’t completely baffled! But the odd thing was… We were the only tourists there! The rest of the peope there were all local! Kind of strange…

We paid 800JPY (S$9.41) each.

Nomura Family Samurai House

After visiting the Ninja Temple, we searched for Nomura Family Samurai House eagerly. Samurai house? Should be interesting!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t very fascinating. Maybe it was because we thought it’d be more Samurai-ish if you know what I mean, or maybe it was because the place was so small it could be covered in 15 minutes.

The best part of Nomura Samurai House was definitely the little garden. It was very serene and peaceful once you manage to go in! We paid 500JPY (S$5.88) each.

Kanazawa Castle

We stayed about a 10-15 minute walk from Kanazawa Castle so it was really convenient for us. Don’t expect to see the whole castle in its former glory though! The latest fire in 1881 burnt down everything other than the Ishikawa-mon Gate and 2 storehouses. But rebuilding is under progress and just last year, the Gyokuseninmaru Garden was added.

It’s a beautiful serene garden, but unfortunately the inner parts are out of bounds! We saw 2 Japanese men sneak over the ropes to take photos, but one of the staff came out to scold them so don’t follow them!

Kenrokuen Garden

Just a short distance away is the Kenrokuen Garden, which used to be the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle. It’s one of Japan’s three most famous gardens.

We were lucky and managed to get in for free at night as they were having an Autumn lights festival! The queue to snap pictures, or even walk close to the main attraction, however, was mortifying. We decided to skip the queue and try finding other spots.

Unfortunately, the other places we found weren’t choice locations to take nice shots of the lit-up pine trees. That’s what you get for not queuing!

Even in the darkness, I could tell that Kenrokuen Garden would be gorgeous in the day. At night, it looks pretty with the lights, but we would have been able to see the autumn colours in daytime. Too bad we didn’t manage to go back the next morning!