5.24.16: Kanazawa OK!

Today was action packed and non-stop! We started with a walk to the Kanazawa Castle (also known as the Palace Of The 1000 Tatami). The castle was constructed in the 16^th century and was destroyed and rebuilt several times but after another fire in 1881 it was destroyed again, not to be restored until 2001. We only went to the main castle part but there was also two rebuilt storehouses. After that, we went to the Kenroku-en, a beautiful lush garden, that is considered to be one of the three perfect gardens of Japan. It was built in the 1620s and was built by the Maeda. It is designed to be beautiful and has the six attributes of a perfect Chinese garden (yes Chinese not Japanese): seclusion, artificiality, spaciousness, antiquity, abundant water and panoramas. The park also contains over 8,700 trees and 183 plant species. From the park we went to the Higashi Chayagai, an old district that in 1820 was set aside by the local lords for Geisha activities. We had delicious and expensive sushi at the local fish market for lunch followed by delicious and cheap sweet potato soft serve ice cream. From there, we took to the bus to the south of the city and explored some temples, a pet cemetery, and a samurai house. It had katanas, an armor set and letters to and from generals from the Edo period about conflicts in the armory, but also simplistic designs in the tea room and a gorgeous  garden. The house was owned by a powerful lord under the Maeda clans rule but was sold when industrialists started moving to Kanazawa. We also went to the 21st Century Museum Of Contemporary Art and took a very fast look around. Besides James Turrell’s Blue Planet Sky, the highlight for us had to be the art piece that involved a Korean immigrant sitting in a bunny costume for seven hours a day (most likely sleeping). Afterwards, we got snacks from the market and had a tasty meal back at our ryokan.