Kanazawa

At the time of this writing, the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture facing the Sea of Japan, had now become a scene of yet another great natural disaster from an earthquake in Japan... On the first day of 2024, a devastating earthquake of 7.6 on the Richter scale shook the Noto Peninsula, causing many deaths, injuries, collapse of houses and buildings, fires and landslides. Even after almost three weeks, there were still aftershocks rocking the region making it unstable and unsafe for rescue workers. 

Of course I did not know this great misfortune would strike when I started drafting this blog about Kanazawa, but my sincere sympathy and prayers go out to those in the devastated regions in the north of Kanazawa who lost family members, homes, animals and items that were dear to them in their hometown. 

Read more on the relief efforts and to learn how you can help:

• NHK (National Broadcasting Corporation)’s website, NHK World-Japan (English)

• The Japanese Red Cross Society's Response (English)

• Ishikawa Prefecture Emergency Page (English)

• Official Instagram page of Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism (Japanese) - Kanazawa was spared and they want you to keep visiting! Boosted tourism will help the prefecture to rebuild the devastated regions in the north.

“Creating” My Own Heirloom

A few years ago, I became obsessed with the idea of “creating” my own heirloom tea set (the cup & saucer kind) to pass down to our two grown daughters. We have friends whose family collectively shares the loveliest collection of unmatched sets of tea cups and saucers - each with a story. Some belonged to their mother, others to their aunts and grandmothers.  Inspired after seeing this collection at a beautiful tea party they hosted, I started hunting.  With my love of tea and all things British, I set out determined to find a lovely English tea set to call my own.

After scouring through half a dozen antique stores in my area, at long last, I came upon the “perfect” set for my family - at a charity shop commonly known as “Goodwill”.  But was it bone china, Wedgewood or even Noritake?!  No! I found a complete set of gorgeous Imari (伊万里) ware – a tea/coffee pot with demi-cups & saucers all in pristine condition.  Then it dawned on me: I was looking for the wrong things in the wrong places…!

Stories of Our Own

I snatched up the bargain set and hurriedly went home on a mission: to gather up all the JAPANESE plates and bowls that were scattered randomly throughout the kitchen and in the attic - some still stored in boxes, never having seen the light of day.  I realized that I already had my family’s “heirloom” – with stories of our own!!!  I didn’t have to create a fake heirloom set out of thin air… how blind I have been!

One bowl in particular has always been very special to me because my daughter bought it in a pottery town of Imari in Kyushu when she was still a poor student.  Some were gifted to us as wedding presents (and I didn’t even appreciate them back then…). 

Others are Kutanis from my in-laws who lived in Japan on and off since the 60s: the last time they lived there was when my father-in-law was the American Ambassador to Japan from 1989-1992.  No doubt many of them were given to my in-laws as gifts – unbeknownst to them, some of them were of great value. My mother-in-law has generously given some of them to us because she doesn’t cook Japanese food and they were collecting dust, literally.

Finding My Own Kitchen in Kanazawa

When I was in Kanazawa last May, I stumbled upon a restaurant called Gyo-Kai-Jin (魚界人）because I wanted to try Kanazawa oden 🍢.  I got to sit at the counter much like a sushi counter: they had all of the plates they use to serve piled high on the ledge separating the counter and the kitchen.  My eyes just wandered over those plates, and what did I find but plates identical in design and shapes to the ones I have back home!!  I didn’t even know they were Kutani-ware until I found my kitchen in Kanazawa…!

The Mystery of Kutani

Much like the Imari ware (which is from Kyushu, farther south), Kanazawa is world-renowned for their distinctly beautiful ceramics called “Kutani-yaki” (九谷焼).  Its history is rather riddled with mystery: In the mid-1600s, with the patronage of the regional feudal lord, Maeda Toshiharu, a local clan built a kiln in the village of Kutani in the remote mountains where they found quality porcelain clay.  They developed a colorful glazing technique and produced beautiful porcelain ware (now treasured as “Ko-Kutani” or “old” Kutani) - yet, inexplicably, the kiln was abandoned only about 50 years later with no record of how or why… 

Then, after almost 100 years, a wealthy merchant, Yoshidaya Den-emon, recreated the abandoned kiln. The old Kutani technique was revived and the porcelain productions multiplied in the region.  It is no coincidence that this was at the height of the tea ceremony boom amongst the samurai class. They loved tea ceremony which was formalized by Sen-rikyu a few centuries earlier, and this trend persisted to the end of the Edo Era (from mid-1500s to mid-1800s).

The more I learn where each of my plates come from, the more I appreciate them now.  Since then, I have been adding to our family “collection” with some treasures I’ve found in estate sales or from vintage stores I frequent here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  This collection is going to be an heirloom of our own because they now represent MY family and OUR stories.  And we use & enjoy them every day – like the lords and samurais used to!  Isn’t that what an heirloom is all about?

Destination: Kanazawa

Kanazawa is a historical city in the prefecture of Ishikawa, facing the Sea of Japan. I’ve always wanted to visit this town, yet it seemed so inaccessible in my mind – only because while I was a student in the 1980s, it was NOT on any of the Shinkansen (bullet train) lines. 

After I left Japan, the Hokuriku (Northern Region) Shinkansen line was opened in 1997, in time for the Nagano Winter Olympics. Then in 2015, it was extended to Kanazawa. So now, you can get there very easily from Tokyo – in about 2.5 hours on a bullet train!

The Samurai and The Arts

If you love the traditional arts of Japan and want to walk the streets and sit in the houses just as the samurai had lived in, Kanazawa is a must. And the best part is that you can avoid the oppressive crowds of Tokyo and Kyoto because it is still little known to visitors from outside of Japan (it’s definitely a destination town for the locals).

Yes, it has been thoroughly modernized with “conbini” (convenience stores) and gigantic department stores all around the train station like any other. However, the magic of Kanazawa is that you can slip back in time just a few steps away from all that… and find yourself walking by a tatami mat maker’s shop that has been in business for over 200 years, in that exact same location.

Or walk through the same narrow cobblestone path along the rushing sound of canals - carefully preserved and protected - as the samurais and ladies in kimono ambled on. You can watch a beautiful clip on how they protect the trees and old street walls every winter, using the sustainable techniques called yukizuri and komokake respectively (by Kanazawa City’s Official YouTube channel).

Or you can admire the serenity of the moss-crusted garden from the intimate tea room of the samurai house, Nomura-ke, whose family had occupied the area since the 16th century.

Or learn about traditional arts that make Kanazawa world famous: 

• Pottery (Kutani | 金沢九谷)

• Lacquer (Wajima | 輪島塗)

• Hand-painted kimono textile (Kaga Yuzen | 加賀友禅)

• Gold-leaf art (金沢箔 | gold hammered into 1/10,000 mm of thinness)

• Mizuhiki art (加賀水引 | decorative Japanese cord made from twisted paper)

There are so many things you can experience to feast your eyes and senses (and tummy too!). Be sure to include Kanazawa on your next trip to Japan – you won’t regret it!