---
title: Kanazawa gold leaf
url: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kanazawa-gold-leaf/
lang: en
journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/kanazawa/
---

# Kanazawa gold leaf

A little of each town’s story　/　Kanazawa, Ishikawa

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.

## 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.

![Gold-leaf soft serve and a soft-serve figurine](https://karigurashijourney.com/img/kanazawa/s156-1200.jpg)
- Sources: https://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/material/files/group/30/100324dentou-jpn.pdf

Read this scene in the full journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/kanazawa/