---
title: Kanazawa
url: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/places/kanazawa/
lang: en
---

# Kanazawa

Travel journal from Kanazawa, with 19 notes on the places I ate, the dishes I cooked and the sights: Higashi Chaya District, Omicho Market, Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line and Tsurugi Station, Kenrokuen and its yukitsuri.

## Journeys

- [Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/kanazawa/index.md): Kanazawa Trip in Winter 2024（2024-02-11）

## Cook the local flavors once more

- [Jibuni](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/jibuni/index.md): 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.
- [Nodoguro takikomi gohan](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/nodoguro-takikomi-gohan/index.md): 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-sea water from Noto.
- [Mettajiru](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/mettajiru/index.md): A hearty pork miso soup full of root vegetables, distinguished by using sweet potato in place of the usual potato.
- [My take on Yahoo chazuke](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/my-take-on-yahoo-chazuke/index.md): The shop known as "Yahoo chazuke" was Shinano, an ochazuke shop in Katamachi 1-chome, Kanazawa.

## A little of each town’s story

- [Higashi Chaya District](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/higashi-chaya-district/index.md): A teahouse district opened in 1820 on the east side of the Asano River with the approval of the Kaga domain.
- [Omicho Market](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/omicho-market/index.md): A market in Musashigatsuji, in the heart of Kanazawa, with roughly 300 years of history going back to the days of the domain.
- [Kaga vegetables](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kaga-vegetables/index.md): Fifteen traditional vegetables of Kanazawa, certified as "vegetables grown since before 1945 and still grown mainly in Kanazawa." They include Gensuke daikon, Kaga lotus root and sweet potato.
- [Kanazawa oden](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kanazawa-oden/index.md): Kanazawa's oden uses a broth of kombu and bonito flakes with light soy sauce, and local ingredients such as Kaga vegetables and Hokuriku seafood.
- [Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line and Tsurugi Station](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/hokuriku-railroad-ishikawa-line-and-tsurugi/index.md): An electrified single-track line of 17 stations and 13.8 kilometers, running from Nomachi to Tsurugi.
- [Kenrokuen and its yukitsuri](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kenrokuen-and-its-yukitsuri/index.md): One of Japan's three great gardens, alongside Kairakuen in Mito and Korakuen in Okayama: a daimyo garden of the Edo period shaped over many years by successive lords of the Kaga domain.
- [Kabura-zushi and daikon-zushi](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kabura-zushi-and-daikon-zushi/index.md): Both are signature fermented foods of Kaga.
- [Kanazawa gold leaf](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kanazawa-gold-leaf/index.md): 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.

## Places we stopped along the way

- [Omicho Ichiba-boshi, a nodoguro dried-fish shop](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/omicho-ichiba-boshi-a-nodoguro-dried/index.md): At a shop with a sign reading "dried-fish specialist," I bought overnight-dried nodoguro from Ishikawa.
- [Ichiba Meshi Amatsubo](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/ichiba-meshi-amatsubo/index.md): Run by Amatsubo, a long-established izakaya founded in 1964, it serves seafood bowls and local dishes such as Kanazawa oden.
- [Hachiban Ramen](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/hachiban-ramen/index.md): A ramen chain whose first shop opened on February 11, 1967, beside National Route 8 in Kuwabara, Kaga, Ishikawa.
- [Miyoshian](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/miyoshian/index.md): A teahouse beside Hisago Pond in Kenrokuen, serving Kaga cuisine and matcha.
- [Grill Otsuka](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/grill-otsuka/index.md): A Western-style diner founded in 1957, often introduced as the birthplace of hanton rice.
- [Kyodenya, an Edo-period rice shop](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kyodenya-an-edo-period-rice-shop/index.md): A rice shop on the south side of the Higashi Chaya District.
- [Takagi Koji Shoten](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/takagi-koji-shoten/index.md): A long-established koji and miso maker in the Higashi Chaya District, said to have a 180-year history.