Port
Kanazawa, Japan
Activity Level
Moderate
Excursion Type
All
Wheelchair Accessible
No
Starting At
$114.95
Minimum Age
Information Not Currently Available
Duration
Approximately 4 Hours
Meals Included
Meals not included
Kenroku-en -- one of the three celebrated 'Great Gardens of Japan' -- welcomes you today. The great daimyo of Kanazawa Castle originally developed this 25-acre landscaped garden. It boasts Japan's first fountain, a teahouse dating to 1774, and a pagoda donated to the Maeda clan by the great warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The celebrated Ganko-Bashi is a bridge comprised of 11 red stones laid out to resemble a formation of flying geese.
Continue to the Nagamachi District, once home to many of Kanazawa's samurai. Kaga was unlike other Japanese fiefdoms because its samurai lived in Kanazawa town. The remains of their houses can be seen today, along with a few surviving residences, earthen boundary walls, narrow lanes and canals.
Cross the Asano River to the Higashi Chayamachi -- one of the city's four pleasure districts established in 1820, during the late Edo period. The district is home to traditional 'tea houses' where wealthy merchants and artisans held drinking parties, and geisha performed just as they still do today. Explore the narrow streets and the two-story pleasure palaces before you return to the ship.
Notes:
Some of the paths are with gravel. Guests are required to remove shoes at Nagamachi Samurai Residence. Wear comfortable walking shoes.