kanazawa. the city of culture, arts and crafts. not knowing what to expect, we have been looking forward to coming to here since our last trip to japan. arriving on a holiday weekend, the city is bustling with visitors and activities. there are few accommodations left and we end up in a hotel (our first thus far), near the train station. thankfully, a short walk with our big packs. the reception is warm. we are happy to be here. with no kitchen facilities and no vegetarian restaurants in sight, we're going to have to be creative and/or adventurous to find laurel some food for the next 3.5 days. the hotel offer to bring us our own fridge in our room! sugoi! it will definitely help. its evening, we familiarize ourselves with our neighbourhood, find some food and pick up a few groceries.
september 14, 2008
asano taiko
our first full day in kanazawa and we're off to asano taiko in near by hakusan city. asano taiko is one of the oldest and premier taiko makers in all of japan. it is also home to the taiko crossroads museum and taiko store. a short local train ride gets us to within a 20 minute walk of the taiko centre. sunny, hot, open land, there is no escape from the sun, unless you're smart like your wife and bring an umbrella. arriving a little bit sweaty, we find the taiko centre with little difficulty and are immediately drawn to the taiko store. small and intimate, surrounded by beautiful brand new, handmade taiko and other various handcrafted instruments, we are greeted by a very nice lady. through our minimal communication, we tell her we are from canada, we are here traveling and that we just walked here from the train station, thats why we're so atsui. she seemed surprised with all our efforts to get there and welcomes us, offering us tea and then even cutting up some pear for us. we browse through the store admiring the craftsmanship of the drums, then venture over to the taiko museum. there, we are in another intimate space. the background sounds of hono-o-daiko playing on the tv screen. upon paying the entrance fee, we are told that we "can" play on the o-daiko (big drum) in the museum. how often do you walk into a museum and are told "please hit out items on display"? well, my eyes lit up with with excitement at that possibility and then when i actually saw the o-daiko, my eyes lit up again! it was huge!! a little intimidating, but it was fun to hit the large o-odaiko and make so much noise in such a small and intimate space. we were also treated to a short taiko performance by two of the asano taiko employees. arigato! we decide to stroll back over to the taiko store before it closes to buy a couple of items, bachi (sticks) and my first pair of jika tabi (footwear). after making our purchase, the nice lady (who we found out later was mrs. asano herself) motions for us to wait a minute. she finishes up a few sales, makes a phone call, etc and then she closes up shop and asks us to follow her. at this point we had suspected that she was going to offer us a ride back to the train station. we follow her out front to the fleet of asano taiko vans and she tries to find the van which she has the keys for. after a few minutes, she finds the van, unlocks it and invites us to go in. as we drive away, she makes another phone call and then hands the phone over to me. an english speaking woman on the other end confirms that mrs. asano is indeed driving us back to the train station. as we are dropped off, we say our domo arigato for the ride and for our enjoyable and pleasant afternoon at asano taiko.
little did we know that this afternoon trip to asano taiko was just the beginning of our day full of encountering overly generous and helpful people. see blog post "the legend of legian"!
september 15, 2008
kenrokuen (garden).
as one of japan's most prized gardens, we decided it was a must to visit kenrokuen while in kanazawa. the day is overcast with the threat of rain, we still decide to venture to the garden. kenrokuen; a strolling-style garden, is quite spectacular even between the bright summer blooms and autumn leaf colours. dramatic and old trees. beautifully integrated architecture. wooden foot bridges. ponds of koi. sounds of gentle flowing streams. gravels pathways. sculpted shrubs contrasted with flowing forests. all lent to a very zen like afternoon stroll through the park. and thankfully the rain held off for the day.
after the gardens, we visited nearby kanazawajinja shrine before the night skies settled in.
our slow and tired stroll back to the hotel in the evening. we discover the noh museum. although it had just closed for the day, we manage to snap a few photos of the beautiful space inside. textured imagery and layered fabric, depict the dramatic theatre of noh. definitely a must to visit when we come back to kanazawa next time.
september 16, 2008
today started slow... we are to attend and participate in a taiko class this evening, thanks to a new taiko friend (brian) we met online. he is from the u.s. and is living in kanazawa with his family and studying taiko with his wife. that evening, another short train ride and 20 minute walk in the dark and we are back at asano taiko to get picked up for the class, which is near by. we finally meet brian and he drives us to the rehearsal space (home to a few taiko groups including Hono-o-daiko). arriving and not knowing what to expect, we are greeted by a small group of taiko enthusiasts. we are introduced to the group and Yamada sensei of Hono-o-daiko who instructs the group. we watch as they practice their song. i was fortunate enough to be able to participate in an short but intense 20 minute drill, before the group continued to practice their song as we watched on. class over, we say our thank yous for allowing us to watch and participate. domo arigato. brian drives us back into town.
dropped off in quiet higashi chaya district. geisha district reminiscent to that of kyoto. all is quiet and dark except lit lanterns adorning a few open tea houses. the architecture is stunning, even in the dark. we wander through the quiet dark alleys in hopes of spotting a geisha or maiko walking about. no luck as its a quiet night here. not like the hustle and bustle of the kyoto gion district. we wander and wander and eventually wander our way back to the hotel late in the evening, not before i stop for a late night dinner on our way back. tired, we pack for our journey to niigata tomorrow afternoon.
september 17, 2008
its time to check out and depart kanazawa. a big thank you to our wonderful hosts at the kitagawa hotel. our time in kanazawa was too short. we realize there is much more for us to see and do here. there will definitely be a next time.
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