With its charming old town, Kanazawa – the “Samurai city” – quickly made its way up to the top of my travel bucket list. There are several districts to experience its centuries-old past. But it’s also a large city, so I wasn’t sure what I would really think. I only had a day’s visit but there was a lot of great stuff to see!

Some of Kanazawa’s History

Kanazawa started as a fortified temple, or fortress, dating back to the Muromachi period. In 1583, the fortress was taken over the by Maeda clan and reconstructed into a castle while a castle town started being built around it. The Maeda clan is instrumental to the city’s history because they started offering incentives for scholars, artisans, and samurai to come to live in Kanazawa, which caused the population to explode over the next century. The footprints of all three types of people are still quite evident in the city today, as we’ll read below.

It experienced great urbanisation and economy until the Meiji period, about 300 years after the Maeda clan had taken over the fortress. Political power shifted and Kanazawa became a less important city. It was, however, still able to retain its strong grip on art and history which is why today it’s a popular tourist destination.

Things to See in Kanazawa Today

One of the city’s most important sites to see is Kanazawa Castle. Kanazawa Castle started as a fortified temple but was rebuilt in the late 16th century to become a castle. Unfortunately, it suffered a lot of damage and fires over the years and was pretty much completely destroyed by the start of the 20th century. However, there are still some remnants from centuries past and the castle itself is being completely rebuilt, as you can see in the photos. It will be cool to see what it’s like when construction is finished!

Right now, you can visit the super extensive grounds. Some of the remaining buildings have small exhibitions. There was one on when the castle was part of Kanazawa University, and what I found particularly nice was they had a video game reconstruction where you could walk around the old castle. I think that type of thing is so great for really visualising different parts of history.

If you’ve studied Japanese art, you’ll know that gold leaf is an incredibly popular (and beautiful) material to work with. Kanazawa produces a whopping 99% of gold leaf in Japan! It’s said to have come to the city in the late 16th century and only about 10 artisans are allowed to create gold leaf today, making it an extremely exclusive art.

For lack of time, I did not get to visit the Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum but it looks like it has some extremely beautiful gold leaf pieces from past centuries on display. It’s also popular now to eat gold leaf, for example on ice cream. You can also book a gold leaf experience below, something I would’ve done had I had more time:

There are also several districts to visit in the city that are reflective of the past. Higashi Chaya, or the Geisha district, is definitely a place to see. Here the buildings are mainly wooden and there are several streets to explore. Here it’s mostly specialty shops where you can buy a lot of gold leaf goods and also some beautiful antiques.

The Shima Geisha House is a lovely place to visit here. It dates to the early 19th century and inside you can see an untouched of what a Geisha house was like (in Kanazawa, Geisha are called Geiko). It’s very informative and such a cool place to visit if you like history.

This area is quite similar to the Kazue-machi Chaya district which is just across the river, though it’s bigger and much more crowded.

The third area, the Nagamachi Samurai District, is a bit different. It has low yellow stone walls and doesn’t feel at all like the areas lined with wooden buildings. It’s here you can find the Nomura Clan Samurai House which I loved and was actually my favorite stop in the city. The interior decoration is exquisite and it has a lovely garden with koi pond. You can learn a bit how samurai would live.

The last area is Nishi Chaya which is south of the river, and a place I didn’t get to. The Myouryuji Ninja Temple is located there but advanced reservations are required by phone which is why I didn’t go. You can learn more about reservations here. To learn more about ninja, you can head to the Ninja Weapon Museum and if you’re into dolls, there’s also a Dolls Museum just down the street.

So there you have it – gieshas, samurai, and ninjas! Castles, tea, and gold leaf! Kanazawa is undoubtedly a window into a very classic and iconic era of Japan.

And believe it or not, that’s not all!

One of the most popular, and my favorite, places to visit in Kanazawa is Kenrokuen Garden which is a very large Japanese garden in the center of the city. You can definitely spend an hour just strolling along the pathways and along its nice pond with koi and its iconic Kotojitoro Lantern (you’ll notice that motif quite a bit around Kanazawa). There are several different areas with different types of trees and plants to see. The gardens do have an entrance fee – something to keep in mind is that you can’t pop in and out of them during the day.

One of my favorite places was Seisonkaku Villa which is located inside the garden. The villa does cost extra money on top of the garden’s entrance fees and photos are not allowed, so I don’t have any. However this villa is a huge home, smaller only than the Japanese castles. It does have some interesting interior details but the main draw is some of the artwork and poetry that it has inside. I wouldn’t consider it a must-visit but if you like interior design, it’s worth checking out.

My last stop to tell you about is the Oyama Shrine which is one of the most unique Japanese shrines I’ve been to. After seeing it in person, it was no surprise that the gate was designed by a Dutch architect. You can see in the photos the gate is not in traditional Japanese style. The shrine has origins going back to Kanazawa’s infancy but the current shrine dates to about the mid 19th century.

I found it to be a nice slice of tranquility in the city.

As it is a big city, there are lots more things to do in Kanazawa that I didn’t get to visit. Some include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art and the Ishikawa Prefectural Museums of Art and History. Because of general time constraints, I opted for one day in Kanazawa and I think a second one would have been beneficial.

I have to say that I was pretty shocked by how many tourists were in Kanazawa. When I got off the train and onto the city bus, it was absolutely packed to the brim with tourists and there were still so many who couldn’t fit on. I hadn’t experienced anything like that before, even in Tokyo and Kyoto. Many of the places I went were quite crowded. I also found many things, including lunch, to be much more expensive than other parts of Japan. At least that was my impression after being there a day.

Then I went to lunch and got asked for a tip, with the increment starting at 20%!! Tipping is nonexistent in Japan, so to me this screams “all our customers are American.” I honestly had no idea that Kanazawa was on so many people’s radar. So being mindful of the locals and their culture, and respectful (as always) is key when being in a place observing a huge amount of tourism.

I stayed for a day and got to see most of what I wanted to see. It wasn’t too rushed and I got to sit down and have a nice lunch. But obviously, there were several things I opted to skip that you might not want to. Though the old town may be small, Kanazawa itself is a huge city, so that’s something to keep in mind particularly if you like slow travel.

I have to say that I liked Tokyo, Takayama, and many other parts of Japan more than Kanazawa. Maybe it was just the day I went but while travel often feels like visiting and experiencing a place, it felt more like I and other tourists were just butting in. Can’t really explain why. But there were many places in the city that I really liked, specifically the garden and the house museums. And as I mentioned, it has everything that makes up quintessential Japan. It’s definitely still a place worth keeping on your radar!

Have you ever been to Kanazawa? What was your impression?

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