Kanazawa · Day Tour
The richest domain in feudal Japan spent its money on craft, and it is all still here.
From
¥22,000 per person
approx. US$139
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Instant confirmation
A private Kanazawa tour with a local guide. Kenroku-en, the Higashi Chaya teahouse district, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art and Kanazawa Castle are the usual candidates. The city escaped wartime bombing, so the old quarters are original rather than rebuilt.
The Maeda family ruled the richest domain in Japan after the shogunate's own lands, and they deliberately spent on culture rather than arms — which was also the politically safer option. Gold leaf, lacquer, Kutani porcelain and Kaga silk dyeing all concentrated here as a result, and the workshops did not leave.
Higashi Chaya is a street of two-storey wooden teahouses with slatted fronts, built for entertaining and still used for it. Some are open to visitors, and the interiors are a surprise — the fronts are restrained and the rooms behind them are not.
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is a circular glass building with no front or back, free to walk into, sitting a few hundred metres from a feudal castle. It is one of the most visited contemporary art museums in Japan and it makes the point that Kanazawa is not a preserved town.
Kenroku-en and Kanazawa Castle face each other across a road, which was originally a moat. The garden was the castle's outer garden before it was opened to the public. Taken together they give you the whole arrangement of a domain capital in an afternoon.
Meet your guide at the Kodatsuno Gate.
One of Japan's three great gardens.
The park and the reconstructed gates.
The teahouse district.
Contemporary art, if it interests you.
Kodatsuno Gate at Kenroku-en, Kanazawa. Your guide will contact you on WhatsApp beforehand to agree the plan.
The price covers your private English-speaking guide. Entry fees, transport and meals are paid as you go, and by convention you also cover your guide's. Bring cash.
Yes. Kanazawa is around two and a half hours from Tokyo by shinkansen and about two hours from Kyoto, and most guests stay a night.
Yes. Workshops run short sessions in gold leaf, lacquer and Kaga dyeing. Tell us when you book and your guide will arrange one.
It is designed to work in all four seasons. Winter, when the pines are roped against snow, is the most distinctive.
The group tour is a fixed four-hour route. This is a full day built around your interests, at your pace.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time. Bookings are confirmed instantly.
Kanazawa · Day Tour
4 hours · From ¥14,000
