The Momiji Diaries – Part 11 – Kanazawa
by Jade Pavilions on 13/12/09 at 10:47 pm
17th November, Kanazawa
Kanazawa is a major provincial town in Ishikawa province on the north coast of Honshu some 2½ hours by the Thunderbird express train. On arriving we walked through the back streets to an old samurai district to visit one of the few remaining Buke Yashiki style residences of the Nomura family. The Nomura’s were middle ranking retainers of the Maeda clan. The house has a distinguished drawing room of cypress with elaborate designs in rosewood and ebony, Fusama paintings of the famous Kano school. The drawing room and study look out onto a small, beautiful garden with waterfall, winding stream with rocks and lanterns. The lanterns had straw cappings and protection from the winter snows, which would arrive in a few weeks. The house had a small collection of artefacts from the period including the armour seen here.
We continued on to the famous Kenroku-en park, a landscaped garden of 28 acres with streams, ponds and a large lake. 
All this water and the garden is on the top of a hill. The water is diverted from a river some 7 miles from the garden and channelled through underground tunnels. The garden contains over 400 cherry trees, a plum grove and many maples for Autumn colour. The garden is known for it’s Karasaki (black) pine trees, which are tied up each winter with tents of rice straw ropes (yuki-tsuri) to prevent snow damage. 
The gardeners were busy with this and a number were sweeping the bed of the stream to remove algae. The classic view of the garden is that of the well photographed two legged Kotoji lantern with one foot in the lake and the other on the bank.
From the garden we headed through town to the Higashi Kuruwa district (the eastern pleasure quarter). This was established in 1820 for the entertainment of the wealthy merchants and the upper classes where the geishas performed their art, playing the koto (harp), the shamisen (3 stringed banjo), dance and the tea ceremony. 
Geishas were highly trained, quite moral and expensive. The streets were lined with Ochaya (tea house where the geisha performed) and some of these have been preserved. We visited the Shima guest house, which on two floors had three guest rooms with adjoining waiting rooms with the usual utility rooms downstairs, a drawing room and a delightful small garden (tsubo niwa). The picture shows one of the entertaining rooms with an alcove, ikebana flower display and the shamisen.
An enjoyable day with three distinctly different styles of garden.
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