Kanazawa

This is a long report as I stayed in Kanazawa for four actual days. Arriving in Kanazawa after a short (30 km) cycle seemed like coming into a city which I knew. I quickly found a nice tent spot near by the river, close to the town centre (10 minutes cycle ride). My tent was well hidden in high grass (picture right) and only locals walked their dogs in the evening or morning. I went on to explore the city for the first day to get some kind of orientation as it’s been by far the biggest city so far with almost 500,000 inhabitants, mostly Japanese, but also quite a few foreigners from pretty much everywhere. They do stand out here as there are really quite a few of them who stay here for short or long.

Kanazawa is right by the Sea of Japan and I was happy to see it for the first time now after about 700 km on the bike over mountains and ever more mountains. The city is known also one million Koku (bushels of rice) city and under the powerful Maeda clan became on of the richest cities in Edo-period Japan (Tokugawa period running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era). Under the leadership of the Maeda’s culture, the arts and trade flourished and the city quickly became a hotspot for all kinds of traditional crafts such as lacquering, gold plating, but also theatre. The city is divided into different districts, Samurai Districts (old traditional houses and well preserved streets), Geisha Districts (with tea houses and ryokans), the Temple Districts (mainly Buddhist shrines and pagodas). Kanazawa is also home to the very famous Kenroku-en (pictures left), a garden of magnificent beauty and there are only three similar gardens in the whole of Japan. This garden had to be enjoyed early in the morning, I was there at 7am when it opened as the tour buses come by about 8/ 9pm. I had the whole garden to myself and it was an amazing experience. The garden’s name: Kenroku-en, is derived from the six (roku) attributes of a perfect landscape, spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, waterways, and scenic views. There are different natural landscapes from rivers, plantations, woodland and mountains represented in the typical Japanese garden (park style). There are also many tea houses which can be visited. I went into one, early in the morning and had traditional green tea and some sweets (for 300 Yen) and was received by a woman dressed in a kimono, who invited me into the tea room. Then I was served tea and sweets and was invited to enjoy the enclosed tea house garden and the tea house itself with many Zen-style paintings and arranged flowers. After sitting there for about 15 minutes another lady in kimono came in, went to the veranda, looked at the garden and invited me to join her to admire the secluded garden (it was not possible to get into it from the main garden despite being in the middle of it). I went onto the veranda and took a spot on the floor. The lady kneeled a meter behind me and we both sat there and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I did not notice her leaving. After a while it dawned on me that this ceremony was a typical Japanese gesture. Rather than just being told to look at the garden, there was a shared appreciation by two people. This was some kind of "aha-moment" for me as it provided a deep insight into Japanese culture. I sat there for another 15 minutes understood now why the trees were kept to a small size. They are meant to represent nature, but in a smaller scale. The streams are rivers, and the rock formations really seemed like mountains after a while. I was really profoundly inspired by this understanding. It’s kinda hard to describe. After the garden I went to see Myoryuji Temple (also called Ninja Dera) which can only be visited with prior booking (thank you Tourist information at Kanazawa Train Station) and the tour in only in Japanese. The English handbook to this amazing temple is pretty good though. The temple has a variety of trapdoors, hidden staircases and despite being a Buddhist temple it was a building designed for defence and strategy should the city be under attack. It is in an area where many samurai used to live and there are many other temples which seemed to have similar functions due to their solid structures, strong gates and good position. Here the streets ended in T-junctions which made it hard for an invading army to get to the main castle too easily. Kanazawa boasts with markets (for example Omi-cho market, which has 100 stalls with fresh fish, vegetables and all sorts of locally produced foodstuffs). It was hard to resist not spending my entire daily budget there. Kanazawa`s nightlife on the weekend is also pretty cool and I can recommend "Pole, Pole Bar", a place where many gajin go and the Japanese people have very good command of English which made it enjoyable to hang out there, something I haven’t done for 2 weeks. In Kanazawa I also met Minorou-san (picture right), a local crafts person, who sells his products (Noh-Theater masks & instruments) and many a thing near where I had my tent. He took me into his home where I tried various, rather challenging, foods from fermented soybeans to pickled plums. He showed me some sword drawing techniques. There I also met Ikuko-san (bottom picture), a singer/ songwriter who I got to see perform at Kanazawa Train Station Festival Dome. She also kindly promoted my little undertaking (1000 Miles challenge) to the whole crowd which was very funny and I felt rather "hashgashi" (shy) as I was center of attention. She makes the most amazing music using crystal bowls and her voice which seemed to put many people in a meditative state despite being in a rather noisy environment at this event. Kanazawa really has won my heart as one of Japan`s coolest cities and I really have enjoyed my last day here today with Yayoi-san who showed me Kanazawa`s famous Oyamna shrine and gave me another look at the Samurai district and its very unique layout, house & street styles, feature I missed when I went through here alone on the bike. Thank you to all those wonderful people who have made this stay in Kanazawa my longest in any city so far and who have shown me their city’s hidden niceties (especially the sweet’s shops) and who have opened their hearts to welcome a stranger. Thanks also to all those who have supported me doing this adventure!