Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Encyclopedia
is the capital city
of Ishikawa Prefecture
, Japan
.
Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan
, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula
National Park. The city sits between the Sai
and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².
Kanazawa's weather is temperate though rainy. Average temperatures are slightly cooler than those of Tokyo
though, with means approximately 4°C in January, 15°C in April, 25°C in July and August, 15°C in October, and 5°C in December. The minimum temperature on record was -9.4 C on 27 January 1904, with a maximum of 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) standing as a record since 8 September 1902. The city is distinctly wet, with an average humidity of 73% and 193 rainy days in an average year. Precipitation is highest in the autumn and winter; it averages more than 250 millimetres (10 in)/ month November through January when the Aleutian Low
is strongest, but it is above 125 millimetres (4.9 in) every month of the year. Along with Valdivia
in Chile
, Kanazawa stands as the wettest extratropical city of its size or greater in the world.
In the quinquennial census of 2010, the city had a population
of 462,478 (2005: 454,607), giving a population density
of 989 persons per km².
", is said to derive from the legend of the peasant Imohori Togoro (lit. "Togoro Potato-digger"), who was digging for potatoes when flakes of gold washed up. The well in the grounds of Kenrokuen known as 'Kinjo Reitaku' （金城麗澤）was recreated by the Maeda lords to acknowledge these roots. The area where Kanazawa is was originally known as Ishiura, and the Ishiura Shrine near Kenrokuen is a remnant of this period.
The centre of the castle town was the castle. While many castle towns in Japan had the castle placed to one side of the city, Kanazawa spread out concentrically from the castle site. Kanazawa Castle itself largely burned down in 1888, but there are a few buildings remaining, notably the Ishikawa Gate and the Sanjikken Longhouse, and one large section has been painstakingly rebuilt to authentic standards of construction. The castle site dates back to the fifteenth century, when it was the centre of power for the Ikkō-ikki
, which was a Buddhist sect that had overthrown the old regional governors, the Togashi clan, and established what is called “The Peasant’s Kingdom” in the district of Kaga, the southern part of present-day Ishikawa Prefecture.
During the fifteenth century, the powers of the central Shoguns in Kyoto was waning, and their regional governors were assuming even greater powers, carving out their own little fiefs. In Kaga, the priest Rennyo, of the Jodo Shinshu sect, arrived in the Kaga region to proselytise. Rennyo’s brand of Buddhism quickly spread among the samurai and peasants. The followers of Rennyo were directly under the control of the central Honganji in Kyoto, and were known as the Ikko sect, the “Single-Minded” sect. At the time, due to the diminishing power of the hereditary regional governors, the Togashi, central control over the region was weak, which allowed groups of Rennyo converts to increase their political ambitions, leading to the suicide of the last Togashi governor in 1488.
named Sakuma Morimasa attacked the Peasants Kingdom, and succeeded in overthrowing Kanazawa Gobo. Granted an income of 50,000 koku
from Nobunaga, Sakuma proceeded to recreate the town as a military base. However his reign was short-lived: in 1583 Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, with Lord Maeda Toshiie
as his advance guard, invaded, and Toshiie was granted the fief of Kaga in addition to the Noto peninsula which he already possessed.
was born. These men would go on to become some of the most powerful lords of the Warring States era. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were primarily responsible for the reunification of Japan after 150 years of civil war; however Toshiie’s role has usually been obscured by the Big Three. Nevertheless, Toshiie was a very powerful lord, and the close friend and confidant of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and it was only his death in 1599 that prevented him from playing a larger role in the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
After his father died in 1569, Toshiie found himself the head of the Maeda Clan, and the lord of Arako Castle with its fairly minor 2450 kan income. He was known as a formidable warrior: in 1551, the fifteen-year-old Toshiie won his first victory at the Battle of Kayazu. He took his first head in that battle, and in another battle in 1556 he defeated a man known for his ferocity, earning the praise of Nobunaga. Toshiie's income was tripled, and due to his courage he was given a position directly serving Nobunaga. In 1573, Toshiie was given 100,000 koku in Nibu, in the south of Echizen Province, and thus, at the age of 39, became a daimyo, or domain lord. He was set there to keep an eye on Shibata Katsuie, who controlled eight counties in the region.
In 1581, the 45-year-old Toshiie was granted the 230,000 koku fief of Noto, and became the lord of an entire province. Leaving Fuchu Castle in Echizen, Toshiie and his family moved to Noto and the next year he built Komaruyama Castle in Tokoroguchi (present-day Nanao). In the Battle of Shizugatake (1583) between Hideyoshi and the powerful lord Shibata Katsuie, Toshiie took a neutral position. At first he had set out with the Shibata forces, but withdrew part-way, retreating to Fuchu Castle and going over to Hideyoshi. Toshiie's position was delicate. Katsuie had his third daughter, Ma'a, as hostage, but two more of his daughters had been adopted into Hideyoshi's family. However, for the preservation of his clan, Toshiie had to make the most politically wise choice, so he sided with Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi’s forces were victorious, and although Toshiie pleaded with Hideyoshi to spare Katsuie's life, it was to no avail: Shibata Katsuie committed suicide in the flames of his castle.
By 1590 Toyotomi Hideyoshi had unified Japan, and was the undisputed master of the realm. However he was not eligible for the coveted title of ‘Shogun’ as he was not of Minamoto descent – by this time it had become customary that the Shogun was a member of the house of Minamoto, the first Shogunate house, but Hideyoshi, being of low peasant stock, couldn’t even pretend to be connected. So he had to be contented with the lesser title of Taiko, Grand Regent.
Hideyoshi was anxious about his young son Hideyori's future, and in 1595 asked Toshiie to be his guardian. In his Will, Hideyoshi wrote "I have known Toshiie for many years, and his uprightness is well known. I wish to install him as Hideyori's guardian." However Hideyoshi was argued out of leaving Toshiie as sole regent, largely by Toshiie himself, and so a council of regents was set up to govern until Hideyori would be of age. In 1595, Toshiie, along with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mori Terumoto, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Ukita Hideie, was chosen by Hideyoshi to act as regent. Ieyasu was the most powerful of the daimyo under Hideyoshi, but Toshiie was probably the second-most: Toshiie may not have as high a rank or as many provinces as Ieyasu, but he was much more the distinguished soldier, trusted by Hideyoshi and was far more popular. The Chief Regent was however, in terms of money, power, and title, Ieyasu. Nevertheless, Toshiie had been asked by Hideyoshi to take full responsibility for Hideyori, which showed that he was actually the one Hideyoshi trusted most. Hideyoshi realised that after his death the one who would be the greatest threat to his government would be Ieyasu. Loyal Toyotomi generals like Ishida Mitsunari
did not get along with Ieyasu, and this led to confrontation, with Toshiie as the only one who could prevent a war as Hideyoshi had foreseen. Hideyoshi died in 1598, after his final aborted attempt at conquering China through Korea had failed, and thus the political succession became highly unstable.
After Toshiie's death in April 1599, his son Toshinaga had enshrined him at Utatsu-Hachimangu Shrine in Kanazawa, and made it a duty of the samurai to pay their respects. When feudalism was abolished and the fiefs disbanded after the Meiji Revolution, former samurai built Oyama Shrine on the site of the Kanaya Palace, once part of the castle. The shrine gate, built in 1875, is a mixture of European and Japanese design, with rare stained-glass windows in the top level, and is now registered as an Important Cultural Property
.
Toshiie's oldest son, Toshinaga
, was born in 1562, when Toshiie was 26. At twenty he married Nobunaga's daughter Ei, and from being lord of Fuchu Castle in Echizen, he went on to successively govern Matto, Moriyama, and Toyama castles before inheriting stewardship of the Maeda Clan in 1598. At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu and thus was able to further enlarge the lands left him by his father to a massive 1.2 million koku, by far the largest domain outside Ieyasu's lands in the Kantō region
around Edo (present-day Tokyo). He succeeded his father's position as one of the Five Regents that Hideyoshi had appointed to govern while his son was a minor, though Toshinaga kept his ears to the ground and was careful to protect his lands against Tokugawa pressure. He died in 1614 after retiring to Toyama Castle.
His son Toshitsune is generally credited with ensuring the Maeda’s dominance, by his alliances by marriage with the Tokugawa and the care he took to avoid any pretence of military ambition. Instead the vast wealth of the Maedas was channelled into arts and crafts, many of which are still nationally renowned. The "Million-koku Culture" bloomed as a result of the vast wealth of the region. As both a large domain and an "Outer Lord" (Tozama: daimyo who submitted to Ieyasu only after he won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600) the eyes of the Shogunate were constantly on Kaga, and to keep it at bay, the Maedas poured their efforts into cultural rather than military pursuits. The third Lord Maeda, Toshitsune, formed the Kaga Workmanship Office and promoted lacquer and gold-and-lacquer-work; and the fifth lord, Tsunanori, collected works of art and artisans from all over the country. The roots of this cultural flowering go back to the days of Toshiie and Toshinaga, when Kaga gold-leaf, inlaid work, and calligraphy were well-known even then.
When the third lord split his domain up between his three sons, Kaga still provided an income in excess of a million ‘koku’. This massive income ensured Kanazawa's status as one of the largest cities in Japan throughout the Edo period, and gave rise to a legacy of art and culture that in many ways rivals even that of Kyoto. Even today the phrase ‘Kaga Hyakumangoku’ is a common one when talking about the history and position of the city: a ‘koku’ was the unit of income for samurai in the feudal period, and is about 150 kg of rice. At current Japanese retail rice prices, a million-koku income is roughly the equivalent of about sixty billion yen, or an income of some US$600,000,000 per year.
In the Meiji Period, castles were now the property of the central government, who considered them symbols of the outmoded feudal system and tore most of them down. In Kanazawa’s case the castle became the base for the Ninth Division of the Imperial Army. Those buildings which were in the way were torn down, and most of the rest perished in a fire in 1888. The Army occupied the castle until after World War II
, when it was disbanded, and in 1949 the site became the new home of Kanazawa University, which stayed there until about 1998 when it moved to its new campus in the hills surrounding the city. Now the site is a park, and for the first time in its 400-year history is open to all who visit.
The series of moats was laid out in the early seventeenth century – initially they were dry, but later connected up to the rivers. The Inner Moat was dug in only 27 days, and averaged about four to five feet wide. The Outer Moat took a bit longer, and averages some six to nine feet in width. Though much of the Inner Moat has been filled in, large sections of the Outer Moat still remain. The earth removed from the moat was piled into ridges along the inner side, as an added defense measure. By the end of the Edo period, ordinances from the city were issued demanding people stop building houses on top of the ridges, and demanding they clear silted-up sections. Similarly, houses began to fill in the firebreaks throughout the city, and even began to appear on temple property in the Teramachi (temple-town) district to the south of the city.
The Hokuriku Highway passed through Kanazawa, dog-legging around the castle. The front entrance of the castle was to the north, as it was this road that the Maeda lords took when they went to Edo – as they had to do every two years through the Alternate Attendance system (sankin kotai
). The entrance to the city was originally marked by a small cluster of pine trees, later replaced with a gate called the Pine Gate, and a bridge. From here the road passed along between merchant houses, and straightened out as it neared the Asano river. As is typical of town planning in Japan, there was a large open space where people tended to congregate at the foot of the bridge. There were guard huts and a gate there, and it was also one of the places where public notices were displayed. Kanazawa was flanked by two rivers, and for defensive reasons there were only two permanent bridges across the Asano river, with just one across the rougher Sai river. However there were also pontoon bridges and ferries. The present bridge across the Asano river dates back from the Taisho period – the original wooden ones tended to get swept away in flood every so often – especially the Sai river ones.
The main street of Kanazawa in the Edo period was Owari-cho. A relatively wide road, lined with large merchant houses, it stretched down to the old Omicho Market at the far end – which is still there, still selling groceries, as it has done for the last four centuries. About a third of the way down the street, on the left, another wide road led straight to the main gate of the castle. Commoners, and in the cities this meant merchants and artisans, lived in designated areas. Merchant areas were laid out along the main roads, notably the Hokkoku Highway that runs through the city. Merchants here were the richest and most influential, and a few of them survive until this day. Other outlying areas were ranked lower, and the houses were of a correspondingly lesser scale.
Though very few from the Edo period remain, the basic style remained unchanged until the war. One notable feature of the design is the ‘sode-utatsu’ wings extending forward on the sides of the upper floor – their exact purpose is not certain, but one theory is that they were wind blockers, which is logical given Kanazawa's weather. Snow was also a significant factor in house design – the roofs sloped into a central garden that was designed to allow snow to collect as much as to provide light to the rear. While the sea of black-glazed tiles sparkling in the sun is a common tourist image of Kanazawa today, the traditional architectural style used wooden boards held down by stones; due to the extremely heavy snowfalls of the Japan Sea coast, traditional tiles were considered to be too heavy. The use of tiles on the frontage and boards under the eaves is also to prevent snow damage.
Large-scale reorganization of the samurai areas took place in 1611. Areas had been ordained by income, and as the total income of the domain had increased fourfold in the past couple of decades, there was some reorganization to be done there; plus room had to be found for the 14 families with incomes over 3,000 koku and their retainers, not to mention the large number of samurai that arrived from Takaoka (in Toyama Prefecture) with Toshitsune, the third lord, when he took up his position. The richest families were moved out of the castle and given massive estates scattered throughout the city, and their own retainers were housed in huge complexes nearby. The most notable example in Kanazawa is Honda-machi, where the retainers of the rich and powerful Honda family lived, in what was almost a town within a town.
In most cases, even with large fiefs like Sendai and Satsuma, samurai tended to live on their own land, but in Kaga all samurai, regardless of income, lived in Kanazawa. When Kanazawa was finished in more or less its final form in the late 17th century, over three-quarters of it was samurai housing. Nearest the castle were the huge estates of the Eight Houses (chief vassals) and their own retainers. For every 100 koku of income, a samurai was given about 550 square metres of land, and average of the "middle-class" samurai was 800, which is huge compared to modern Japanese housing. The richest vassal family, the Hondas, had a whopping 50,000 koku income. The minimum for daimyo level was 10,000 koku, and apart from the Eight Houses, some twelve families had incomes in excess of this. Kanazawa was filled with huge mansions.
Traditional Architecture of Samurai Houses
Size and location of samurai housing was determined by income and standing. The richest and most powerful samurai in Kanazawa had their own men, often hundreds of them, who were housed in large areas that usually adjoined the main house. Samurai houses shared a similar basic pattern: a single-floored residence, usually fairly square or rectangular in plan, surrounded by a garden – both the vegetable and the decorative kinds. The roof was gabled, and faced the road. The boundary wall was usually made of beaten earth, topped with tiles. There are still a number of them around in the city, most notably in the Nagamachi area. The size and height of the wall and the entry gate were also dictated by rank. Samurai over 400 koku in income had a stable gate, used to house guards and horses.
Though the Nagamachi area is promoted in the tourist brochures as the ‘samurai area’, in fact the overwhelming majority of the houses there today are not samurai houses, but modern post-war housing. There are some genuine samurai houses still left in Kanazawa, but very very few indeed. This is because after the Meiji Restoration the samurai found themselves bereft of their traditional income, and many of them ended up selling off their estates, which were turned into fields before being redeveloped as modern housing before World War Two.
, the temples were all Jodo Shinshu
, the Ikko sect; but after the daimyo
moved in, so did other sects: Sōtō
, Shingon, Hoke
, Ji
, etc. They were placed in their present locations by around 1616. In the Teramachi (literally, ‘Temple Town’ area), they were lined up side by side along a long straight road leading to the foot of Nodayama. Defensive purposes have often been argued for this type of planning, and it is true that the wide spaces, thick walls, and large halls of temples were able to be used as emergency fortifications. However to what extent this actually influenced the layout is not certain. It was, in Kanazawa’s case at least, never put to the test. On the other side of town, the Utatsuyama temple district, at the foot of the hill of the same name, has smaller temples and twistier roads.
Kanazawa had a further expansion in 1661, when many samurai who had followed their retired lord Toshitsune to his villa at Komatsu returned after his death. They built houses on the fringes of the city, with street layouts almost totally unplanned. These areas are some of the most labyrinthine parts of the city, but this was not done for defensive purposes at all: by this time peace was quite firmly secured. To alleviate crowding from the continual (illegal) inflow of peasants and other migrants, residents were permitted to rent land from neighbouring farmers, and these areas are some of the most convoluted of all, as the roads were laid out on the old winding paths through the fields.
Thus Kanazawa attained the form that it kept for the rest of the Edo period, and even now the majority of roads in the old city are little changed in form from two centuries ago. The only major change was the creation of ‘geisha districts’ at the foot of Utatsuyama and over the Sai River in 1820, to control and regulate pleasure houses and prostitutes (bath-girls: 湯女). However, conservative factions regained control of the Kaga government, and the geisha districts were abolished a decade later. The districts were made legal again just before the Meiji Revolution, and stayed that way until prostitution was officially outlawed in 1954. The geisha areas were out of bounds to samurai, and so were patronised by rich merchants and artisans, who would compete with each other to spend the most obscene amounts of money on parties.
Architecture of the Geisha House
The geisha house, or ‘tea house’ as it is commonly called, is superficially similar to the merchant houses, in the same way the samurai houses are superficially similar to farmhouses. However unlike the merchant houses, where the second floor at the front was for storage only, and thus very low, the second story of tea houses are much higher, because the upper floor was used as the main entertaining area. The upper floors are faced with sliding wooden shutters which would be open in the day or when there was a party going on, and the bottom floor is faced with the unique, extremely fine latticework that is known as ‘Kaga lattice’. The standard of décor was also far higher than most merchant houses, at least to the extent allowed by the various Sumptuary Laws that the Shogunate passed. Due in part to the long gloomy winters, Kaga décor is far brighter than the drab earth browns and greens and ochres of Kyoto style: bold bright scarlets (benigara: 紅柄) and ultramarines were popular. The upper floor of the Seisonkaku Villa in Kenrokuen is particularly boldly-decorated, with purple and black walls as well.
On March 25, 2007, a large earthquake
measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, resulting in at least 1 death and over 160 people injured. though Kanazawa was not shaken.
and Asano-gawa Enyukai are the major festivals held in Kanazawa.
Kanazawa-Haku is gold which is beaten into a paper-like sheet. Gold leaf
plays a prominent part in the city's cultural crafts, to the extent that there is a gold leaf museum (Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum). It is found throughout Kanazawa and Ishikawa, and Kanazawa produces 99% of Japan's high-quality gold leaf: the gold leaf that covers the famous Golden Pavilion in Kyoto was produced in Kanazawa. Gold leaf is even put into food. The city is famous for tea
with gold flakes, which is considered by the Japanese people to be good for health and vitality. Kanazawa lacquerware (Kanazawa shikki), a high-quality lacquerware traditionally decorated with gold dust, is also well-known.
'Cultural landscape in Kanazawa. Tradition and culture in the castle town' has been designated an Important Cultural Landscape
.
and the Hokuriku Railroad
.
. As a result, Kanazawa's considerable architectural heritage has been preserved.
Kenrokuen Garden is by far the most famous part of Kanazawa. Originally built as the outer garden of Kanazawa castle
, it was opened to the public in 1875. It is considered one of the "three most beautiful gardens in Japan" and is filled with a variety of trees, ponds, waterfalls and flowers stretching over 25 acre
s (100,000 m²). In winter, the park is notable for its yukitsuri
— ropes attached in a conical array to trees to support the branches under the weight of the heavy wet snow, thereby protecting the trees from damage.
The Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art
(IPMA) is located within the grounds of Kenroku-en.
Outside Kenrokuen is Ishikawa-mon, the back gate (karamate-mon) to Kanazawa Castle
. The original castle was largely destroyed by fire in 1888 but part of it has been partially restored as of 2001, with more to come. There are currently plans to re-create much of the original castle grounds, including some surrounding areas.
The Seisonkaku Villa was built in 1863 by a Maeda lord、Maeda Nariyasu (13th Lord) for his mother, Takako. Originally called the Tatsumi Goten (Tatsumi Palace), it Much of the villa has been dismantled, but what remains is still one of the most elegant remaining feudal lord villas in Japan. The villa stands in a corner of Kenrokuen, but separate admission fees (¥700) apply. Notable features are the vividly-coloured walls of the upper floor, with purple or red walls and dark-blue ceilings (red walls, 'benigara', are a Kanazawa tradition), and the custom-made English carpet in the audience chamber.
Kanazawa also boasts numerous Edo period
(1603–1867) former geisha houses in the Higashi Geisha District, across the Asano river (with its old stone bridge) out from central Kanazawa. Nearby is the Yougetsu Minshuku which sits at one end of one of the most photographed streets in Japan.
This area retains, almost completely, the look and feel of pre-modern Japan, its two-story wooden facade
s plain and austere. The effect is accentuated by the early morning mist. Late at night, the street is lit by recreated Taisho
-period streetlamps.
The Oyama-jinja
shrine, which is considered an Important Cultural Asset, is also in Kanazawa. It is noted for its imposing three-story "Shinmon" gate influenced by Dutch design, built in 1875, with its brightly-coloured stained-glass windows.
Kanazawa's Myoryuji Temple or Ninja-dera (Ninja Temple) is a fascinating amalgamation of traditional temple architecture, hidden doors, passageways, and hidden escape routes. Although the temple is often referred to as ninja dera, it is in fact not connected with ninjas at all (this does not stop local tour operators and shops from selling ninja trinkets). Local legend has it that the temple, with its hidden doors and passageways, was intended as a secret refuge for the local rulers in the case of an external threat.
Mount Utatsu
gives a commanding view of the city of Kanazawa. Toyokuni Shrine
, Utatsu Shrine (a Tenman-gū
), and Atago Shrine, known together as the Mount Utatsu Three Shrines, are found on the mountain. A monument to author Shusei Tokuda is located near the summit.
as well as the considerable precipitation of the Hokuriku region
, allowing for an ample supply of clean, fresh water. Omicho market is an open-air market in the middle of the city which dates back to the Edo period. Most of the shops there sell seafood.
, United States of America (since December 18, 1962) Porto Alegre
, Brazil
(since March 20, 1967) Irkutsk
, Russia
(since March 20, 1967) Ghent
, Belgium
(since October 4, 1971) Nancy, France
(since October 12, 1973) Suzhou
, China
(since June 13, 1981) Jeonju
, South Korea
(since April 30, 2002)
Cities of Japan
||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...
of Ishikawa Prefecture
Ishikawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is Kanazawa.- History :Ishikawa was formed from the merger of Kaga Province and the smaller Noto Province.- Geography :Ishikawa is on the Sea of Japan coast...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Geography, climate, and population
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula
Noto Peninsula
thumb|right|240px|Landsat image with high-resolution data from Space Shuttle.Noto Peninsula is a peninsula that projects north into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa prefecture in central Honshū, the main island of Japan...
National Park. The city sits between the Sai
Sâi River
The Sâi River is a tributary of the Danube in Romania.-References:* Administraţia Naţională Apelor Române - Cadastrul Apelor - Bucureşti* Institutul de Meteorologie şi Hidrologie - Rîurile României - Bucureşti 1971...
and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².
Kanazawa's weather is temperate though rainy. Average temperatures are slightly cooler than those of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
though, with means approximately 4°C in January, 15°C in April, 25°C in July and August, 15°C in October, and 5°C in December. The minimum temperature on record was -9.4 C on 27 January 1904, with a maximum of 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) standing as a record since 8 September 1902. The city is distinctly wet, with an average humidity of 73% and 193 rainy days in an average year. Precipitation is highest in the autumn and winter; it averages more than 250 millimetres (10 in)/ month November through January when the Aleutian Low
Aleutian low
The Aleutian Low is a semi-permanent low pressure center located near the Aleutian Islands during the winter. It is one of the main centers of action in the atmospheric circulation of the Northern Hemisphere...
is strongest, but it is above 125 millimetres (4.9 in) every month of the year. Along with Valdivia
Valdivia
-Geography:*Chile** Valdivia, Chile, a city and municipality in the Province of Valdivia** Valdivia River, a river which begins in the city of Valdivia** Valdivia Province, the Province of Valdivia...
in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Kanazawa stands as the wettest extratropical city of its size or greater in the world.
In the quinquennial census of 2010, the city had a population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 462,478 (2005: 454,607), giving a population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 989 persons per km².
History
The name "Kanazawa" (金沢), which literally means "marsh of goldGold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
", is said to derive from the legend of the peasant Imohori Togoro (lit. "Togoro Potato-digger"), who was digging for potatoes when flakes of gold washed up. The well in the grounds of Kenrokuen known as 'Kinjo Reitaku' （金城麗澤）was recreated by the Maeda lords to acknowledge these roots. The area where Kanazawa is was originally known as Ishiura, and the Ishiura Shrine near Kenrokuen is a remnant of this period.
The centre of the castle town was the castle. While many castle towns in Japan had the castle placed to one side of the city, Kanazawa spread out concentrically from the castle site. Kanazawa Castle itself largely burned down in 1888, but there are a few buildings remaining, notably the Ishikawa Gate and the Sanjikken Longhouse, and one large section has been painstakingly rebuilt to authentic standards of construction. The castle site dates back to the fifteenth century, when it was the centre of power for the Ikkō-ikki
Ikko-ikki
', literally "Ikkoshū Uprising", were mobs of peasant farmers, Buddhist monks, Shinto priests and local nobles, who rose up against samurai rule in 15th to 16th century Japan. They followed the beliefs of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism which taught that all believers are equally saved by Amida...
, which was a Buddhist sect that had overthrown the old regional governors, the Togashi clan, and established what is called “The Peasant’s Kingdom” in the district of Kaga, the southern part of present-day Ishikawa Prefecture.
During the fifteenth century, the powers of the central Shoguns in Kyoto was waning, and their regional governors were assuming even greater powers, carving out their own little fiefs. In Kaga, the priest Rennyo, of the Jodo Shinshu sect, arrived in the Kaga region to proselytise. Rennyo’s brand of Buddhism quickly spread among the samurai and peasants. The followers of Rennyo were directly under the control of the central Honganji in Kyoto, and were known as the Ikko sect, the “Single-Minded” sect. At the time, due to the diminishing power of the hereditary regional governors, the Togashi, central control over the region was weak, which allowed groups of Rennyo converts to increase their political ambitions, leading to the suicide of the last Togashi governor in 1488.
Kanazawa Gobo and the Peasant’s Kingdom
For the next hundred years, Kaga was ruled by the Ikko peasants, who created a kind of republic known by history as The Peasant’s Kingdom. Their principle stronghold was the basilica of Kanazawa Gobo, on the tip of the Kodatsuno ridge. Backed by high hills and flanked on two sides by rivers, it was a natural fortress, and the eventual home of the Maeda lords. Around the basilica, in what is now the second and third baileys, the first proper town grew, with priestly residences and other religious buildings as its core, and around them came the merchant areas. Many of these districts have survived to the present day, in name if nothing else. This type of town, peculiar to the Warring States Period, was a fortified temple town, and in its basic structure bears a great deal of resemblance to mediaeval European towns, with the temple or church in the centre and the entire town enclosed in some form of fortification, usually a high wall surrounded by a moat, often dry.End of the Peasants Kingdom
In the year 1580, a general under Oda NobunagaOda Nobunaga
was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...
named Sakuma Morimasa attacked the Peasants Kingdom, and succeeded in overthrowing Kanazawa Gobo. Granted an income of 50,000 koku
Koku
The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
from Nobunaga, Sakuma proceeded to recreate the town as a military base. However his reign was short-lived: in 1583 Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
, with Lord Maeda Toshiie
Maeda Toshiie
was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His father was Maeda Toshimasa. He was the fourth of seven brothers. His childhood name was "Inuchiyo" . His preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as...
as his advance guard, invaded, and Toshiie was granted the fief of Kaga in addition to the Noto peninsula which he already possessed.
Maeda Toshiie and Kanazawa
Maeda Toshiie was born in 1537, in the village of Arako in Owari Province (present-day Nagoya), the son of Maeda Toshiharu, the lord of Arako Castle. In the same year, in the same province, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born, and three years before that, Oda Nobunaga. And five years later in neighboring Mikawa Province, Tokugawa IeyasuTokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
was born. These men would go on to become some of the most powerful lords of the Warring States era. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were primarily responsible for the reunification of Japan after 150 years of civil war; however Toshiie’s role has usually been obscured by the Big Three. Nevertheless, Toshiie was a very powerful lord, and the close friend and confidant of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and it was only his death in 1599 that prevented him from playing a larger role in the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
After his father died in 1569, Toshiie found himself the head of the Maeda Clan, and the lord of Arako Castle with its fairly minor 2450 kan income. He was known as a formidable warrior: in 1551, the fifteen-year-old Toshiie won his first victory at the Battle of Kayazu. He took his first head in that battle, and in another battle in 1556 he defeated a man known for his ferocity, earning the praise of Nobunaga. Toshiie's income was tripled, and due to his courage he was given a position directly serving Nobunaga. In 1573, Toshiie was given 100,000 koku in Nibu, in the south of Echizen Province, and thus, at the age of 39, became a daimyo, or domain lord. He was set there to keep an eye on Shibata Katsuie, who controlled eight counties in the region.
In 1581, the 45-year-old Toshiie was granted the 230,000 koku fief of Noto, and became the lord of an entire province. Leaving Fuchu Castle in Echizen, Toshiie and his family moved to Noto and the next year he built Komaruyama Castle in Tokoroguchi (present-day Nanao). In the Battle of Shizugatake (1583) between Hideyoshi and the powerful lord Shibata Katsuie, Toshiie took a neutral position. At first he had set out with the Shibata forces, but withdrew part-way, retreating to Fuchu Castle and going over to Hideyoshi. Toshiie's position was delicate. Katsuie had his third daughter, Ma'a, as hostage, but two more of his daughters had been adopted into Hideyoshi's family. However, for the preservation of his clan, Toshiie had to make the most politically wise choice, so he sided with Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi’s forces were victorious, and although Toshiie pleaded with Hideyoshi to spare Katsuie's life, it was to no avail: Shibata Katsuie committed suicide in the flames of his castle.
By 1590 Toyotomi Hideyoshi had unified Japan, and was the undisputed master of the realm. However he was not eligible for the coveted title of ‘Shogun’ as he was not of Minamoto descent – by this time it had become customary that the Shogun was a member of the house of Minamoto, the first Shogunate house, but Hideyoshi, being of low peasant stock, couldn’t even pretend to be connected. So he had to be contented with the lesser title of Taiko, Grand Regent.
Hideyoshi was anxious about his young son Hideyori's future, and in 1595 asked Toshiie to be his guardian. In his Will, Hideyoshi wrote "I have known Toshiie for many years, and his uprightness is well known. I wish to install him as Hideyori's guardian." However Hideyoshi was argued out of leaving Toshiie as sole regent, largely by Toshiie himself, and so a council of regents was set up to govern until Hideyori would be of age. In 1595, Toshiie, along with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mori Terumoto, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Ukita Hideie, was chosen by Hideyoshi to act as regent. Ieyasu was the most powerful of the daimyo under Hideyoshi, but Toshiie was probably the second-most: Toshiie may not have as high a rank or as many provinces as Ieyasu, but he was much more the distinguished soldier, trusted by Hideyoshi and was far more popular. The Chief Regent was however, in terms of money, power, and title, Ieyasu. Nevertheless, Toshiie had been asked by Hideyoshi to take full responsibility for Hideyori, which showed that he was actually the one Hideyoshi trusted most. Hideyoshi realised that after his death the one who would be the greatest threat to his government would be Ieyasu. Loyal Toyotomi generals like Ishida Mitsunari
Ishida Mitsunari
Ishida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century. Also known by his court title, Jibunoshō...
did not get along with Ieyasu, and this led to confrontation, with Toshiie as the only one who could prevent a war as Hideyoshi had foreseen. Hideyoshi died in 1598, after his final aborted attempt at conquering China through Korea had failed, and thus the political succession became highly unstable.
After Toshiie's death in April 1599, his son Toshinaga had enshrined him at Utatsu-Hachimangu Shrine in Kanazawa, and made it a duty of the samurai to pay their respects. When feudalism was abolished and the fiefs disbanded after the Meiji Revolution, former samurai built Oyama Shrine on the site of the Kanaya Palace, once part of the castle. The shrine gate, built in 1875, is a mixture of European and Japanese design, with rare stained-glass windows in the top level, and is now registered as an Important Cultural Property
Important Cultural Properties of Japan
The term is often shortened into just are items officially already classified as Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and judged to be of particular importance to the Japanese people....
.
Toshinaga and Toshitsune
Maeda Toshinaga
' was a Japanese daimyo who was the second head of the Kaga Domain. He was the eldest son of Maeda Toshiie and married one of Oda Nobunaga's daughters, Ei-hime....
, was born in 1562, when Toshiie was 26. At twenty he married Nobunaga's daughter Ei, and from being lord of Fuchu Castle in Echizen, he went on to successively govern Matto, Moriyama, and Toyama castles before inheriting stewardship of the Maeda Clan in 1598. At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu and thus was able to further enlarge the lands left him by his father to a massive 1.2 million koku, by far the largest domain outside Ieyasu's lands in the Kantō region
Kanto region
The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....
around Edo (present-day Tokyo). He succeeded his father's position as one of the Five Regents that Hideyoshi had appointed to govern while his son was a minor, though Toshinaga kept his ears to the ground and was careful to protect his lands against Tokugawa pressure. He died in 1614 after retiring to Toyama Castle.
His son Toshitsune is generally credited with ensuring the Maeda’s dominance, by his alliances by marriage with the Tokugawa and the care he took to avoid any pretence of military ambition. Instead the vast wealth of the Maedas was channelled into arts and crafts, many of which are still nationally renowned. The "Million-koku Culture" bloomed as a result of the vast wealth of the region. As both a large domain and an "Outer Lord" (Tozama: daimyo who submitted to Ieyasu only after he won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600) the eyes of the Shogunate were constantly on Kaga, and to keep it at bay, the Maedas poured their efforts into cultural rather than military pursuits. The third Lord Maeda, Toshitsune, formed the Kaga Workmanship Office and promoted lacquer and gold-and-lacquer-work; and the fifth lord, Tsunanori, collected works of art and artisans from all over the country. The roots of this cultural flowering go back to the days of Toshiie and Toshinaga, when Kaga gold-leaf, inlaid work, and calligraphy were well-known even then.
When the third lord split his domain up between his three sons, Kaga still provided an income in excess of a million ‘koku’. This massive income ensured Kanazawa's status as one of the largest cities in Japan throughout the Edo period, and gave rise to a legacy of art and culture that in many ways rivals even that of Kyoto. Even today the phrase ‘Kaga Hyakumangoku’ is a common one when talking about the history and position of the city: a ‘koku’ was the unit of income for samurai in the feudal period, and is about 150 kg of rice. At current Japanese retail rice prices, a million-koku income is roughly the equivalent of about sixty billion yen, or an income of some US$600,000,000 per year.
Development
On April 14, 1631, fire broke out near the Sai Bridge. It consumed much of the city, including the castle. In 1632 Toshitsune ordered the construction of a canal to bring water from the upper Sai River to the castle to alleviate the water shortage problem in the castle. A bold plan was drawn up: water would be drawn from far upstream, and channelled through kilometres of canals and pipes down to the castle. The pipes were carefully laid at a 750:1 slope for about 3.3 kilometres along the Kodatsuno ridge. The water was fed to the castle under the moat that lay between it and what is now Kenrokuen by an artesian well, and the large lake in Kenrokuen, Kasumi-ga-Ike, acted as an emergency supply. Local legend has it that the lake in fact has a plug, which could be pulled to suddenly increase the water in the moats.In the Meiji Period, castles were now the property of the central government, who considered them symbols of the outmoded feudal system and tore most of them down. In Kanazawa’s case the castle became the base for the Ninth Division of the Imperial Army. Those buildings which were in the way were torn down, and most of the rest perished in a fire in 1888. The Army occupied the castle until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when it was disbanded, and in 1949 the site became the new home of Kanazawa University, which stayed there until about 1998 when it moved to its new campus in the hills surrounding the city. Now the site is a park, and for the first time in its 400-year history is open to all who visit.
Merchant areas
After 1600, Kaga was now the richest domain outside the Shogunate itself. As a result, the population of Kanazawa increased dramatically. Samurai and other retainers, as well as commoners who migrated in, swelled the population manyfold. This resulted in the rather chaotic layout of the city that largely survives today. Though settlement was by no means willynilly, it did tend to be rather ad hoc at times. The maze-like street plan that resulted is usually ascribed to defensive purposes: however there is no documentary basis for this claim, and in fact most castle towns were laid out rather more rationally, and some, like Nagoya, were as grid-like as Manhattan. Defensive features in the castle town were, instead, primarily moats and gates: roads played a smaller role.The series of moats was laid out in the early seventeenth century – initially they were dry, but later connected up to the rivers. The Inner Moat was dug in only 27 days, and averaged about four to five feet wide. The Outer Moat took a bit longer, and averages some six to nine feet in width. Though much of the Inner Moat has been filled in, large sections of the Outer Moat still remain. The earth removed from the moat was piled into ridges along the inner side, as an added defense measure. By the end of the Edo period, ordinances from the city were issued demanding people stop building houses on top of the ridges, and demanding they clear silted-up sections. Similarly, houses began to fill in the firebreaks throughout the city, and even began to appear on temple property in the Teramachi (temple-town) district to the south of the city.
The Hokuriku Highway passed through Kanazawa, dog-legging around the castle. The front entrance of the castle was to the north, as it was this road that the Maeda lords took when they went to Edo – as they had to do every two years through the Alternate Attendance system (sankin kotai
Sankin kotai
was a policy of the shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history. The purpose was to control the daimyo. In adopting the policy, the shogunate was continuing and refining similar policies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1635, a law required sankin kōtai, which was already an established...
). The entrance to the city was originally marked by a small cluster of pine trees, later replaced with a gate called the Pine Gate, and a bridge. From here the road passed along between merchant houses, and straightened out as it neared the Asano river. As is typical of town planning in Japan, there was a large open space where people tended to congregate at the foot of the bridge. There were guard huts and a gate there, and it was also one of the places where public notices were displayed. Kanazawa was flanked by two rivers, and for defensive reasons there were only two permanent bridges across the Asano river, with just one across the rougher Sai river. However there were also pontoon bridges and ferries. The present bridge across the Asano river dates back from the Taisho period – the original wooden ones tended to get swept away in flood every so often – especially the Sai river ones.
The main street of Kanazawa in the Edo period was Owari-cho. A relatively wide road, lined with large merchant houses, it stretched down to the old Omicho Market at the far end – which is still there, still selling groceries, as it has done for the last four centuries. About a third of the way down the street, on the left, another wide road led straight to the main gate of the castle. Commoners, and in the cities this meant merchants and artisans, lived in designated areas. Merchant areas were laid out along the main roads, notably the Hokkoku Highway that runs through the city. Merchants here were the richest and most influential, and a few of them survive until this day. Other outlying areas were ranked lower, and the houses were of a correspondingly lesser scale.
Traditional architecture
Houses were taxed on the width of the frontage, so as you can imagine long thin houses became very common. Unlike samurai houses, they were built right up to the road, and directly abutted their neighbors. They were also two-storied, though the upper floor was used mainly for storage, particularly at the front of the house, above the shop area. One feature of Kanazawa merchant houses is the long earth corridor that runs right from the front door to the rear of the house. This was usually on one side, and the rooms opened off it. Going in to the typical merchant's house, we pass the shop area, then a couple of inner rooms, with the most important room at the back, facing the inner garden. Beyond that was the kitchen area, and at the rear of the house would be a thick-walled fireproof storehouse.Though very few from the Edo period remain, the basic style remained unchanged until the war. One notable feature of the design is the ‘sode-utatsu’ wings extending forward on the sides of the upper floor – their exact purpose is not certain, but one theory is that they were wind blockers, which is logical given Kanazawa's weather. Snow was also a significant factor in house design – the roofs sloped into a central garden that was designed to allow snow to collect as much as to provide light to the rear. While the sea of black-glazed tiles sparkling in the sun is a common tourist image of Kanazawa today, the traditional architectural style used wooden boards held down by stones; due to the extremely heavy snowfalls of the Japan Sea coast, traditional tiles were considered to be too heavy. The use of tiles on the frontage and boards under the eaves is also to prevent snow damage.
Samurai Areas
HistoryLarge-scale reorganization of the samurai areas took place in 1611. Areas had been ordained by income, and as the total income of the domain had increased fourfold in the past couple of decades, there was some reorganization to be done there; plus room had to be found for the 14 families with incomes over 3,000 koku and their retainers, not to mention the large number of samurai that arrived from Takaoka (in Toyama Prefecture) with Toshitsune, the third lord, when he took up his position. The richest families were moved out of the castle and given massive estates scattered throughout the city, and their own retainers were housed in huge complexes nearby. The most notable example in Kanazawa is Honda-machi, where the retainers of the rich and powerful Honda family lived, in what was almost a town within a town.
In most cases, even with large fiefs like Sendai and Satsuma, samurai tended to live on their own land, but in Kaga all samurai, regardless of income, lived in Kanazawa. When Kanazawa was finished in more or less its final form in the late 17th century, over three-quarters of it was samurai housing. Nearest the castle were the huge estates of the Eight Houses (chief vassals) and their own retainers. For every 100 koku of income, a samurai was given about 550 square metres of land, and average of the "middle-class" samurai was 800, which is huge compared to modern Japanese housing. The richest vassal family, the Hondas, had a whopping 50,000 koku income. The minimum for daimyo level was 10,000 koku, and apart from the Eight Houses, some twelve families had incomes in excess of this. Kanazawa was filled with huge mansions.
Traditional Architecture of Samurai Houses
Size and location of samurai housing was determined by income and standing. The richest and most powerful samurai in Kanazawa had their own men, often hundreds of them, who were housed in large areas that usually adjoined the main house. Samurai houses shared a similar basic pattern: a single-floored residence, usually fairly square or rectangular in plan, surrounded by a garden – both the vegetable and the decorative kinds. The roof was gabled, and faced the road. The boundary wall was usually made of beaten earth, topped with tiles. There are still a number of them around in the city, most notably in the Nagamachi area. The size and height of the wall and the entry gate were also dictated by rank. Samurai over 400 koku in income had a stable gate, used to house guards and horses.
Though the Nagamachi area is promoted in the tourist brochures as the ‘samurai area’, in fact the overwhelming majority of the houses there today are not samurai houses, but modern post-war housing. There are some genuine samurai houses still left in Kanazawa, but very very few indeed. This is because after the Meiji Restoration the samurai found themselves bereft of their traditional income, and many of them ended up selling off their estates, which were turned into fields before being redeveloped as modern housing before World War Two.
Temple Areas
One distinctive aspect of Kanazawa, and other castle towns, is the clustering of temples near the entrances. When Kanazawa was ruled by the IkkoIkko
Ikkō-shu is usually viewed as a small, militant, offshoot from Jodo Shinshu Buddhism though the name has a complex history.Originally Ikkō-shu was a small antinomian sect founded by Ikkō Shunjo and similar to Ippen's Ji-shu...
, the temples were all Jodo Shinshu
Jodo Shinshu
, also known as Shin Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Today, Shin Buddhism is considered the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.-Shinran :...
, the Ikko sect; but after the daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
moved in, so did other sects: Sōtō
Soto
Sōtō Zen , or is, with Rinzai and Ōbaku, one of the three most populous sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.The Sōtō sect was first established as the Caodong sect during the Tang Dynasty in China by Dongshan Liangjie in the 9th century, which Dōgen Zenji then brought to Japan in the 13th century...
, Shingon, Hoke
Hoke
Hoke may refer to:Places:* Hoke County, North CarolinaPeople:* Brady Hoke, American football coach* Chris Hoke , American football player* Eldon Hoke , American musician...
, Ji
Ji
JI or Ji or ji may refer to:*-ji A suffix or postposition used with name or title to show respect in the Indian subcontinent* Ji , a Chinese surname used by kings in the Zhou Dynasty* Ji , from Zhou Dynasty, etc...
, etc. They were placed in their present locations by around 1616. In the Teramachi (literally, ‘Temple Town’ area), they were lined up side by side along a long straight road leading to the foot of Nodayama. Defensive purposes have often been argued for this type of planning, and it is true that the wide spaces, thick walls, and large halls of temples were able to be used as emergency fortifications. However to what extent this actually influenced the layout is not certain. It was, in Kanazawa’s case at least, never put to the test. On the other side of town, the Utatsuyama temple district, at the foot of the hill of the same name, has smaller temples and twistier roads.
Geisha Areas
HistoryKanazawa had a further expansion in 1661, when many samurai who had followed their retired lord Toshitsune to his villa at Komatsu returned after his death. They built houses on the fringes of the city, with street layouts almost totally unplanned. These areas are some of the most labyrinthine parts of the city, but this was not done for defensive purposes at all: by this time peace was quite firmly secured. To alleviate crowding from the continual (illegal) inflow of peasants and other migrants, residents were permitted to rent land from neighbouring farmers, and these areas are some of the most convoluted of all, as the roads were laid out on the old winding paths through the fields.
Thus Kanazawa attained the form that it kept for the rest of the Edo period, and even now the majority of roads in the old city are little changed in form from two centuries ago. The only major change was the creation of ‘geisha districts’ at the foot of Utatsuyama and over the Sai River in 1820, to control and regulate pleasure houses and prostitutes (bath-girls: 湯女). However, conservative factions regained control of the Kaga government, and the geisha districts were abolished a decade later. The districts were made legal again just before the Meiji Revolution, and stayed that way until prostitution was officially outlawed in 1954. The geisha areas were out of bounds to samurai, and so were patronised by rich merchants and artisans, who would compete with each other to spend the most obscene amounts of money on parties.
Architecture of the Geisha House
The geisha house, or ‘tea house’ as it is commonly called, is superficially similar to the merchant houses, in the same way the samurai houses are superficially similar to farmhouses. However unlike the merchant houses, where the second floor at the front was for storage only, and thus very low, the second story of tea houses are much higher, because the upper floor was used as the main entertaining area. The upper floors are faced with sliding wooden shutters which would be open in the day or when there was a party going on, and the bottom floor is faced with the unique, extremely fine latticework that is known as ‘Kaga lattice’. The standard of décor was also far higher than most merchant houses, at least to the extent allowed by the various Sumptuary Laws that the Shogunate passed. Due in part to the long gloomy winters, Kaga décor is far brighter than the drab earth browns and greens and ochres of Kyoto style: bold bright scarlets (benigara: 紅柄) and ultramarines were popular. The upper floor of the Seisonkaku Villa in Kenrokuen is particularly boldly-decorated, with purple and black walls as well.
Recent history
The modern city of Kanazawa was created on April 1, 1889.On March 25, 2007, a large earthquake
2007 Noto earthquake
At 9:42 a.m. on March 25, 2007, the , a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, struck the Hokuriku region of Japan, near the Noto Peninsula. The earthquake shook the city of Nanao and the town of Anamizu with a seismic intensity of 6+ on Japan's shindo scale. One death, in the city of Wajima, and at least 214...
measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, resulting in at least 1 death and over 160 people injured. though Kanazawa was not shaken.
Culture
Hyakumangoku MatsuriHyakumangoku Matsuri
The Hyakumangoku Matsuri is the main annual festival taking place in Kanazawa, Japan. The festival commemorates the entry of Lord Maeda Toshiie into Kanazawa Castle in 1583. The highlight of the festival is the Hyakumangoku Parade, which begins on the second Saturday in June.The Hyakumangoku...
and Asano-gawa Enyukai are the major festivals held in Kanazawa.
Kanazawa-Haku is gold which is beaten into a paper-like sheet. Gold leaf
Gold leaf
right|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...
plays a prominent part in the city's cultural crafts, to the extent that there is a gold leaf museum (Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum). It is found throughout Kanazawa and Ishikawa, and Kanazawa produces 99% of Japan's high-quality gold leaf: the gold leaf that covers the famous Golden Pavilion in Kyoto was produced in Kanazawa. Gold leaf is even put into food. The city is famous for tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
with gold flakes, which is considered by the Japanese people to be good for health and vitality. Kanazawa lacquerware (Kanazawa shikki), a high-quality lacquerware traditionally decorated with gold dust, is also well-known.
'Cultural landscape in Kanazawa. Tradition and culture in the castle town' has been designated an Important Cultural Landscape
Cultural Landscapes of Japan
Landscapes which have evolved together with the way of life and geocultural features of a region, and which are indispensable for understanding the lifestyle of the Japanese people, are recognized by the government of Japan as under article 2, paragraph 1, item 5 of the Law for the Protection of...
.
Government
The current mayor (as of 2011) is Yukiyoshi Yamano, Independent, mayor of Kanazawa since December 10, 2010.Transport
Kanazawa is served by the JR West Hokuriku Main LineHokuriku Main Line
The is a 358.3 kilometer line of the West Japan Railway Company from Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga to Naoetsu Station in Jōetsu, Niigata. It serves the Hokuriku region on the northern central coast of Honshū, the largest island of Japan, as well as offering connections to the regions of...
and the Hokuriku Railroad
Hokuriku Railroad
The is a transportation company in Kanazawa, Japan. The company or its lines are commonly known as . The company was founded in 1943, when all the private railway and bus operators in Ishikawa Prefecture were merged into one. Some of its lines, however, have their roots from horse car lines in the...
.
Points of interest
Kanazawa was one of the few major Japanese cities to be spared USAAF fire bombing during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. As a result, Kanazawa's considerable architectural heritage has been preserved.
Kenrokuen Garden is by far the most famous part of Kanazawa. Originally built as the outer garden of Kanazawa castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
, it was opened to the public in 1875. It is considered one of the "three most beautiful gardens in Japan" and is filled with a variety of trees, ponds, waterfalls and flowers stretching over 25 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (100,000 m²). In winter, the park is notable for its yukitsuri
Yukitsuri
Yukitsuri is a technique for preserving trees and shrubs from heavy snow. Trees are given extra support by bamboo poles with ropes attached to limbs; whereas, shrubs are often tied tightly around the circumference. Yukitsuri is a common sight in Kanazawa and Kenrokuen Garden during the winter...
— ropes attached in a conical array to trees to support the branches under the weight of the heavy wet snow, thereby protecting the trees from damage.
The Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art
Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art
, also known as IPMA, is the main art gallery of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The collection includes some of the prefecture's most important cultural assets and works by artists with some connection to the region. It is located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa within the grounds of the Kenrokuen Garden.The...
(IPMA) is located within the grounds of Kenroku-en.
Outside Kenrokuen is Ishikawa-mon, the back gate (karamate-mon) to Kanazawa Castle
Kanazawa Castle
is a large, well-restored castle in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located adjacent to the celebrated Kenroku-en Garden, which once formed the castle's private outer garden.-History and description:...
. The original castle was largely destroyed by fire in 1888 but part of it has been partially restored as of 2001, with more to come. There are currently plans to re-create much of the original castle grounds, including some surrounding areas.
The Seisonkaku Villa was built in 1863 by a Maeda lord、Maeda Nariyasu (13th Lord) for his mother, Takako. Originally called the Tatsumi Goten (Tatsumi Palace), it Much of the villa has been dismantled, but what remains is still one of the most elegant remaining feudal lord villas in Japan. The villa stands in a corner of Kenrokuen, but separate admission fees (¥700) apply. Notable features are the vividly-coloured walls of the upper floor, with purple or red walls and dark-blue ceilings (red walls, 'benigara', are a Kanazawa tradition), and the custom-made English carpet in the audience chamber.
Kanazawa also boasts numerous Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
(1603–1867) former geisha houses in the Higashi Geisha District, across the Asano river (with its old stone bridge) out from central Kanazawa. Nearby is the Yougetsu Minshuku which sits at one end of one of the most photographed streets in Japan.
This area retains, almost completely, the look and feel of pre-modern Japan, its two-story wooden facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s plain and austere. The effect is accentuated by the early morning mist. Late at night, the street is lit by recreated Taisho
Taisho
Taisho may refer to:* Taishō period , a period in the history of Japan* Emperor Taishō of Japan , reigned 1912–1926. His given name was Yoshihito.* Taishō-ku, Osaka, a ward in the city of Osaka, Japan...
-period streetlamps.
The Oyama-jinja
Oyama Shrine (Ishikawa)
Oyama-jinja is a Shinto shrine in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.The shrine was established in 1599 in Utatsuyama , east of Kanazawa. It was moved to its present location in 1873 and renamed to Oyama-jinja. The main gate was constructed in 1875. This gate is a peculiar mix of traditional Japanese,...
shrine, which is considered an Important Cultural Asset, is also in Kanazawa. It is noted for its imposing three-story "Shinmon" gate influenced by Dutch design, built in 1875, with its brightly-coloured stained-glass windows.
Kanazawa's Myoryuji Temple or Ninja-dera (Ninja Temple) is a fascinating amalgamation of traditional temple architecture, hidden doors, passageways, and hidden escape routes. Although the temple is often referred to as ninja dera, it is in fact not connected with ninjas at all (this does not stop local tour operators and shops from selling ninja trinkets). Local legend has it that the temple, with its hidden doors and passageways, was intended as a secret refuge for the local rulers in the case of an external threat.
Mount Utatsu
Mount Utatsu
is a mountain in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is also known by a number of other names, including , , , and . It is visible to the east of Kanazawa Castle and has Toyokuni Shrine located on its slopes....
gives a commanding view of the city of Kanazawa. Toyokuni Shrine
Toyokuni Shrine (Kanazawa)
is a Shinto shrine located on Mount Utatsu in Higashi-Mikage-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Under the former shrine ranking system, it was listed as a village shrine....
, Utatsu Shrine (a Tenman-gū
Tenman-gu
is a shinto shrine which enshrines Sugawara no Michizane as Tenjin. There are about 14 thousand Tenman-gū in Japan. Famous Tenman-gū are as follows.*Dazaifu Tenman-gū -- One of the Sōhonsha of Tenman-gū....
), and Atago Shrine, known together as the Mount Utatsu Three Shrines, are found on the mountain. A monument to author Shusei Tokuda is located near the summit.
Local cuisine
Kanazawa is well-known throughout Japan for its traditional cooking, which is called Kaga Cuisine. Seafood is a specialty, jumbo shrimp, followed by sushi and sashimi. The sake produced in this region is of high quality, smooth and sweet, derived from the rice grown in Ishikawa PrefectureIshikawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is Kanazawa.- History :Ishikawa was formed from the merger of Kaga Province and the smaller Noto Province.- Geography :Ishikawa is on the Sea of Japan coast...
as well as the considerable precipitation of the Hokuriku region
Hokuriku region
The is located in the northwestern part of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It lies along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern Japan....
, allowing for an ample supply of clean, fresh water. Omicho market is an open-air market in the middle of the city which dates back to the Edo period. Most of the shops there sell seafood.
Education
Kanazawa, in keeping with its tradition as a home of scholarship for the country, has numerous universities and two-year colleges.- Hokuriku Gakuin University (a.k.a. Mission Daigaku) is a university created in 2008 from two departments in the two-year junior college. The junior college section now consists of a further two departments. It has schools from kindergarten to university level, and celebrated the 125th year anniversary of its founding in 2010. It is especially well known for its English language education tradition.
- Hokuriku UniversityHokuriku Universityis a private university located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. Founded in 1975, the university is locally nicknamed Hokudai, though typically the term is used nationwide to refer to Hokkaido University. It was originally founded as a single-department college with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical...
- Hokudai is an academically-challenging small liberal arts college with a business management department specializing in foreign languages (Chinese and English): School of Future Learning and a pharmacy department: School of Pharmacy. - Kanazawa UniversityKanazawa Universityis a national university of Japan located in the city of Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture.Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi. Student enrollment is about 11,000 including 350 international students....
- is a large national university that traces its history back to the founding of a small medical school in 1862. Its immediate predecessor was the Fourth Upper High School, one of the elite preparatory schools for the Imperial Universities Imperial UniversityImperial university-France:Imperial University or University of France refers to the French university re-organisation initiated by Napoleon.-Japan:...
before the war. Many prominent politicians and other notables were graduates of 'Shiko', as it was known. - Kanazawa College of ArtKanazawa College of ArtThe Kanazawa College of Art is a university in Kanazawa, Japan. It was founded in 1946 by the municipal government following the World War II...
, Official homepage - Kanazawa Institute of Technology is in NonoichiNonoichi, Ishikawais a city located in Ishikawa, Japan.As of February 2011, the city has an estimated population of 51,976 and a density of 3,830 persons per km². The total area is 13.56 km²....
, Ishikawa DistrictIshikawa District, Ishikawawas a district located in Ishikawa, Japan.As of February 2011, the district had an estimated population of 51,976 and a density of 3,830 persons per squire kilometer. The total area was 13.56 km²....
, a small neighboring city. - Seiryo University a small business & education university.
- Ishikawa Prefectural University is a prefecture-run university with majors in environmental science, food science, and bio-production sciences.
- Kanazawa Medical University
- Kanazawa Gakuin University
Sister cities
Kanazawa is twinned with: BuffaloBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, United States of America (since December 18, 1962) Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(since March 20, 1967) Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(since March 20, 1967) Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(since October 4, 1971) Nancy, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(since October 12, 1973) Suzhou
Suzhou
Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(since June 13, 1981) Jeonju
Jeonju
Jeonju is a city in South Korea, and the capital of Jeollabuk-do, or North Jeolla Province. It is an important tourist center famous for Korean food, historic buildings, sports activities and innovative festivals.- History :...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
(since April 30, 2002)
External links
- Official website in English
- Kanazawa Tourist Information Guide in English
- Kanazawa Guide includes interactive map and over 340 pictures.