Kanazawa (Japanese: 金沢市, -shi) is a large city, seaport and administrative center of Ishikawa Prefecture on Honshū, the main island of Japan. Kanazawa is located about 150 km north of Nagoya on the coast of the Sea of Japan and is the largest city in the Hokuriku region with over 450,000 inhabitants.
Historically, Kanazawa was the center of the Ikkō-ikki (一向一揆; "Ikkō
uprisings") in the province of Kaga. The so-called Buddhist Ikkō-shū
(一向宗) had overthrown the prince in the 15th century and ruled
autonomously for almost a century. In 1580, Oda Nobunaga subjugated the
Buddhist government of the so-called "peasant kingdom". In 1583, Maeda
Toshiie finally moved into Kanazawa as daimyō of the Kaga fief in the
province of Noto. He also received parts of the provinces of Kaga and
Etchū (today's Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures) from Toyotomi Hideyoshi
for his fief. It was the largest fief at the time.
The income of
the daimyo was set in rice, measured in koku, by the ruler of the
country, initially by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, then after 1600 by the
Tokugawa. Since the Maeda were opponents of the Tokugawa, they were
integrated into the political system with large grants, with one million
koku, in Japanese Hyakumangoku. This made them the richest daimyo in
Japan. The name of a large street in Kanazawa still reminds us of this
fact today.
The region was spared war and serious natural
disasters during the 300 years of the Maeda government, so the princes
promoted culture, literature, sado, theater, garden art, and so on.
Under the Maeda government, the city experienced a cultural boom, which
earned it the name Sho-Kyōto (Little Kyoto) to this day.
When the
fiefdoms (Han) were abolished and the prefectures were established after
the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Kanazawa became the capital of the
new Ishikawa Prefecture.
The seventh university in Japan was
founded in what was then Kanazawa Castle, and after the Second World War
it was called Kanazawa University.
Worth seeing are the Kenrokuen, a park that is considered one of the
three perfect gardens in Japan, the newly built Kanazawa Castle with the
Ishikawa-mon, the only remnant of the original castle, and the Samurai
Quarter, where former Samurai villas have been preserved to this day.
Ninja-dera, Omicho Market, Teramachi and the Higashiyama Chaya (tea
district) should also not be missed during a visit.
Train:
JR Hokuriku Main Line
Hokuriku Shinkansen
Road:
Hokuriku Highway
National Road 8
National Roads 157, 159, 249,
304, 305, 359
The Hokuriku Shinkansen route has been in operation
since March 2015 to Kanazawa and since March 2024 to Tsuruga. A
continuation via Obama to Osaka is being planned. In preparation for the
express service, the main station was completely rebuilt in 2005.
In addition to mechanical engineering and the textile industry, the most important economic sectors are arts and crafts. Gold leaf from Kanazawa, pottery (Kutani-yaki, Ohi-Yaki), silk painting (Kaga-Yuzen) and lacquerware (Wajima-nuri) from nearby Wajima on the Noto Peninsula are particularly famous.
There are two public and four private universities in Kanazawa.
Maeda Tsunanori (1643–1724), Tozama daimyō during the Edo period
Ganku (1756 or 1749–1839 or 1838), painter
Inokuchi Ariya
(1856–1923), founder of mechanical engineering and inventor of the
centrifugal pump
Uryū Sotokichi (1857–1937), admiral
Ōse Jintarō
(1866–1944), educator
Fujii Kenjirō (1866–1952), botanist
Fujioka
Sakutarō (1870–1910), literary scholar
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki
(1870–1966), Buddhist author
Kyōka Izumi (1873–1939), writer
Kiryū
Yūyū (1873–1941), journalist
Nobuyuki Abe (1875–1953), general,
politician and 36th Prime Minister of Japan
Shūkō Yoshida
(1887–1946), painter
Saisei Murō (1889–1962), writer
Saiten Tamura
(1889–1933), painter
Hatakeyama Kinsei (1897–1995), painter
Akaji
Yūsai (1906–1984), lacquer artist
Hasegawa Norishige (1907–1998),
businessman
Shūgorō Hasuda (1915–2010), blacksmith
Chōzaemon Ōhi
(* 1927), ceramicist
Yoshio Koide (* 1942), physicist
Terumichi
Yamada (* 1953), Jazz musician
Yoshiya Minami (* 1971), porn actor
Dejima Takeharu (* 1974), sumo wrestler
Mamiko Noto (* 1980), voice
actress
Yōhei Koyama (* 1998), ski racer
Ryōya Taniguchi (* 1999),
football player