A Kanazawa craft dating back to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, which grew rapidly from the Meiji era thanks to the city's skill and the quality of its water. Today more than 99% of Japan's gold leaf is made in Kanazawa.
Sources: www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp
This moment in the journey
Teahouse rooms and gold-leaf soft serve
Then on to the Chaya District, perhaps the finest of Kanazawa's scenes. With permission, I was shown inside a teahouse: a staircase seen from above through an open well, gold paper cranes, a triangular paper lantern and a golden lion mask.
Past sliding doors painted with calligraphy lay a tatami room with vermilion walls and a hanging scroll. A kimono with a bamboo pattern was on display, and temari balls sat on the tatami. It was like stepping into the Edo period, a chance to feel that elegant world for myself.
Through a narrow lane, then something sweet that could only come from Kanazawa, a place of tradition and culture. The dazzling gold-leaf soft serve made my heart flutter: the ice cream was wrapped entirely in a single sheet of gold.
Watch this scene on YouTube9:22
More notes from this journey
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Jibuni
A simmered dish of Ishikawa made with duck, sudare-fu and seasonal vegetables, said to have been eaten by samurai households since at least the Edo period.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Nodoguro takikomi gohan
Nodoguro is a prized fish, so rich in fat it is called "the toro of white fish." The overnight-dried fish I bought at the market was lightly salted using deep-s…
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Mettajiru
A hearty pork miso soup full of root vegetables, distinguished by using sweet potato in place of the usual potato.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
My take on Yahoo chazuke
The shop known as "Yahoo chazuke" was Shinano, an ochazuke shop in Katamachi 1-chome, Kanazawa.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Higashi Chaya District
A teahouse district opened in 1820 on the east side of the Asano River with the approval of the Kaga domain.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Omicho Market
A market in Musashigatsuji, in the heart of Kanazawa, with roughly 300 years of history going back to the days of the domain.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
More notes from Hokuriku & Koshinetsu
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
Onsen tamago boiled in the hot spring
At the Ogama, the main source of Nozawa Onsen, water close to 90 degrees wells up, and locals have long boiled mountain vegetables and eggs in it.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
Rice bowl with stir-fried nozawana, fried tofu and onsen tamago
Nozawana is said to descend from Tennoji turnip seeds that the priest of Kenmei-ji temple in Nozawa Onsen brought back from Kyoto in 1756.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Shiojiri, Nagano
Rice-flour oyaki with nozawana
Oyaki are the signature home dish of Shinshu: a dough of wheat or buckwheat flour rolled thin, wrapped around a filling and baked.
From: Autumn leaves in Narai-juku and an autumn table in Shinshu
Shiojiri, Nagano
Shinshu beef sukiyaki
Nagano's "apple-fed Shinshu beef" is black wagyu that meets standards set by a producers' association; the cattle are fed by-products of the prefecture's food i…
From: Autumn leaves in Narai-juku and an autumn table in Shinshu
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
The Ogama hot-spring source
One of the springs that feed Nozawa Onsen, with water close to 90 degrees.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
The Oyu and the 13 sotoyu bathhouses
Nozawa Onsen has 13 sotoyu, communal bathhouses, kept up by villagers through a system called yunakama.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa