Kanazawa Station - Tsuzumi Gate Kanazawa — **Kanazawa Station - Tsuzumi Gate**
Kanazawa

[Introduction]

Today we will be spending our morning at Zenkoji Temple, and then we will make our way to Kanazawa via Shinkansen. After that, a short late afternoon walk around at Higashi Chaya District.

[Trip Report]
Day 1: Explore around Nagano
Day 2: Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
Day 3: Matsumoto Castle, Nakamachi District, Matsumoto City Museum of Art and night exploring around Nagano
Day 4: Nagano Zenkoji Temple and Kanazawa Higashi Chaya District [current post]
Day 5: Shirakawago
Day 6: Hida-Takayama, Hida-Furukawa, and “Your Name” location spots
Day 7: Kanazawa Omicho Market, Kenrokuen Garden, and Kanazawa Castle Park
Day 8: Explore around Osaka
Day 9: Osaka Shinsekai, Tempozan Ferris Wheel, Glion Museum, and Cosmo Tower Observatory
Day 10: Osaka Castle, Gozabune Boat, HEP FIVE Ferris Wheel, and Kuchu Teien Observatory
Day 11: Kyoto Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Kinkakuji, and Yasaka Shrine
Day 12: Osaka Dotonbori, Kaiyukan, and Shinsekai
Day 13: Kyoto Fushimi Inari, Ginkakuji, and Arashiyama
Day 14: Okayama Korakuen, Okayama Castle, and Kojima Jeans Street
Day 15: Miyajima
Day 16: Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, Peace Memorial Park, Peace Memorial Museum
Day 17: Yufuin
Day 18: Hakata Ohori Park, Fukuoka Castle Ruins, and Fukuoka Tower
Day 19: Nanzoin Temple

[Travel Date]
2019-10-27 to 2019-11-14

Inside the Nagano Dentetsu train Nagano — **Inside the Nagano Dentetsu train**
Nagano

[Main Content]

Business as usual for breakfast, a quick trip to the combini to get onigiri and canned coffee.

After that we took the old school Nagano Dentetsu from Nagano Station to Zenkojishita Station.

Staircase to train platform Nagano — **Staircase to train platform**
Nagano

Really old school feeling as you can see from the train platform and gantry, feels like we went through a time capsule.

Journey to Zenkoji Temple Nagano — **Journey to Zenkoji Temple**
Nagano

The direction to walk towards Zenkoji Temple after coming out from the station exit. It is a pretty straightforward walk to Zenkoji Temple, we took around 15 minutes to reach there.

[Kankeiji Temple]

We took a detour to Kankeiji Temple since it is along the way to Zenkoji Temple.

Start of change of season Nagano — **Start of change of season**
Nagano

Karesansui (Zen Garden) Nagano — **Karesansui (Zen Garden)**
Nagano

Karesansui (Zen Garden) is a very common feature in Japan temples, you will see more of it when we write on our later part of the Japan trip.

Buddha Monument? Nagano — **Buddha Monument?**
Nagano

Also took some photos of wife around the temple grounds.

Enroute to Zenkoji Temple, we saw 2 interesting religious/Japanese folklore monuments, so took snaps of it.

Niomon Gate Nagano — **Niomon Gate**
Nagano

[Zenkoji Temple - Niomon Gate]

Reaching the compound of Zenkoji Temple, and the first of 3 gates: Niomon Gate.

Niomon Gate is guarded by 2 wooden warriors called Nio, which is on the left and right column of the gate.

[Zenkoji Temple - Nakamise Dori]

After entering the Niomon Gate, you will be greeted with Nakamise Dori (shopping street) of Zenkoji Temple.

I think it is the schedule/events for November Nagano — **I think it is the schedule/events for November**
Nagano

You can see the different Jizos while approaching the second gate, which is the Sanmon Gate.

Sanmon Gate Nagano — **Sanmon Gate**
Nagano

[Zenkoji Temple - Sanmon Gate]

Massive and impressive Sanmon Gate, though quite a bit aged as it was originally built in 1750.

I had an interesting read of the history, position, function and structure of a Sanmon on Wikipedia.

Another interesting find, there are a cow head and 5 pigeons hidden between the letters.

You can view the logo used on the below photo for a closer look.

Ema (wishing plague) Nagano — **Ema (wishing plague)**
Nagano

Hondo Gate Nagano — **Hondo Gate**
Nagano

[Zenkoji Temple - Hondo Gate]

Finally reached the main temple hall which is the Hondo Gate.

We will be posting a series of photos around the Hondo Gate vicinity, you can refer to the photos’ caption for more information.

Roofs of the Hondo Gate Nagano — **Roofs of the Hondo Gate**
Nagano

Details of the wooden beams of Hondo Gate Nagano — **Details of the wooden beams of Hondo Gate**
Nagano

Bell at Hondo Gate Nagano — **Bell at Hondo Gate**
Nagano

Hanging of Ema (wishing plague) Nagano — **Hanging of Ema (wishing plague)**
Nagano

Tieing up the Omikuji (fortune telling strip) Nagano — **Tieing up the Omikuji (fortune telling strip)**
Nagano

From what I know, if you get a bad fortune strip, you should tie it to a pine tree (if that temple has one), if not just any designated omikuji tieing site would work. So by doing this, you “leave” the bad fortune you got behind.

Of course, if you got a good fortune strip you should keep it with you!

Wood crafted Jizo Nagano — **Wood crafted Jizo**
Nagano

Shoro (Bell Tower) Nagano — **Shoro (Bell Tower)**
Nagano

School kids on an excursion Nagano — **School kids on an excursion**
Nagano

Starting to have the autumn feeling Nagano — **Starting to have the autumn feeling**
Nagano

Zenkoji Temple Unjoden in the distance up the hills Nagano — **Zenkoji Temple Unjoden in the distance up the hills**
Nagano

Not going to lie I have no idea what this is when I took this photo, back then I just took it because it is quite eye-catching (red colour temple).

But after doing my research and cross-reference from Google map + Zenkoji Temple website. Apparently this is Zenkoji Temple Unjoden, an ashes depository.

Ginkgo Leaves Nagano — **Ginkgo Leaves**
Nagano

We went out from one the temple’s exit and took some street shots and Ginkgo trees/leaves!

Different Shichimi at Yawataya Isogoro Main Store Nagano — **Different Shichimi at Yawataya Isogoro Main Store**
Nagano

You probably have seen the standard Shichimi spice at ramen or Japanese restaurants. But do you know that Yawataya Isogoro Shichimi spice originated / started selling at Zenkoji grounds in 1736. You can read more of their history over at their website.

We had a fun time seeing and smelling the different varieties, and also bought a couple of it back home for cooking!

Heigoro Pâtisserie Nagano — **Heigoro Pâtisserie**
Nagano

[Breakfast at Heigoro Pâtisserie]

Next, we went to Heigoro Pâtisserie where they serve great cakes (probably the best in Nagano) which we had a great time there too! Do click on the link for the detailed review.

Though we have to rush back to our hotel after that, literally walking at a frantic pace, as we are travelling to Kanazawa via shinkansen this afternoon.

View from Nagano Station Shinkansen Platform Nagano — **View from Nagano Station Shinkansen Platform**
Nagano

After the nice dessert treat for ourselves, we managed to rush back to hotel and do final round of packing and checking out.

We even reached the shinkansen platform with quite a bit of buffer time. With that said, staying at a JR hotel helps, since it is just beside the station.

Just to refresh you guys’ memory, we stayed at Hotel Metropolitan Nagano.

Shift change of train driver Nagano — **Shift change of train driver**
Nagano

Shinkansen incoming! Nagano — **Shinkansen incoming!**
Nagano

We have arrived at Kanazawa! Kanazawa — **We have arrived at Kanazawa!**
Kanazawa

[Kanazawa Station]

After we left our luggage at the hotel (as it is not the official check-in time yet), we walked around Kanazawa Station for some sightseeing.

First up, the iconic Tsuzumi Gate! Shaped in the form of a torii gate and the 2 pillars resemble a tsuzumi drum, thus the name of Tsuzumi Gate. You can read the detailed information over at a Kanazawa Station guide website.

Note: Majority of the Japan hotels have strict check-in time with no flexibility on early check-in. If you’re staying at an international hotel chain (ie. Hilton, Marriott, Intercontinental, etc.) and have hotel status, that will be a different story.

Shiba Inu! Kanazawa — **Shiba Inu!**
Kanazawa

Briefly after we took the Tsuzumi Gate photos, we saw 2 ladies with 2 Shiba Inu! Meeting pure Shiba Inu in their original country got us very excited. Those fluffy and slightly chubby doggos are so cute!

We stayed around and played with those dogs for quite a bit, the ladies are also very friendly in letting us pet their dogs too!

Motenashi Dome Kanazawa — **Motenashi Dome**
Kanazawa

I really like the aesthetic architectural design and structure of the Motenashi Dome. Would definitely come back here again to shoot it in better conditions (ie. better light/weather, when light streaks hit in on the ground floor area).

Although I am still a beginner in travel and architecture photography, I do enjoy learning and doing different genre of photography, sort of like a way of refreshing my photography thinking/train of thought.

Giant Golden Daruma Doll Kanazawa — **Giant Golden Daruma Doll**
Kanazawa

Quiet riverside Kanazawa — **Quiet riverside**
Kanazawa

[Higashi Chaya District]

We took a JR bus (cause we have JR pass) from Kanazawa Station to Higashi Chaya District. Upon alighting the bus, we were greeted by a quiet riverside.

Onwards to the Higashi Chaya District.

Close up shot after taking a few bites Kanazawa — **Close up shot after taking a few bites**
Kanazawa

Hakuichi Higashiyama Kanazawa — **Hakuichi Higashiyama**
Kanazawa

One of the signatures of Kanazawa is gold leaf, no, we did not buy or set aside a budget for any gold leaf crafts or jewellery, but we definitely can spare ¥1000 for a gold leaf ice-cream!

The ice-cream is decent, nothing special in taste. It is definitely more for the novelty and for the IGers to get Instaworthy shots haha!

We got the ice-cream at Hakuichi which is in the main area of Higashi Chaya District, you will not miss this spot for sure.

One of the signature photo spot at Higashi Chaya District Kanazawa — **One of the signature photo spot at Higashi Chaya District**
Kanazawa

Nice signboard design! Kanazawa — **Nice signboard design!**
Kanazawa

Sabo Issho 一笑 Kanazawa — **Sabo Issho 一笑**
Kanazawa

[Teatime at Sabo Issho 一笑]

Since we are in Higashi Chaya District, an authentic teahouse experience is definitely a must-try on our list!

We had a great experience at Sabo Issho 一笑, very intimate and quiet zen setting. Good to relax physically and mentally. Do click on the link for the detailed review.

Alleyway after sunset Kanazawa — **Alleyway after sunset**
Kanazawa

The signature willow tree in Higashi Chaya District Kanazawa — **The signature willow tree in Higashi Chaya District**
Kanazawa

Towards the residential area in Higashi Chaya District Kanazawa — **Towards the residential area in Higashi Chaya District**
Kanazawa

Ville De Croquette Kanazawa — **Ville De Croquette**
Kanazawa

Before going off, we saw this croquette shop selling unique designs and creative flavours of deep-fried croquette!

We got the colourful rice puffs croquette complete with gold leaves on top (hey it’s Kanazawa, don’t judge haha!), the filling inside is like mashed potato with meat.

After eating it, we rushed to the bus stop (as buses comes at 30 minutes interval around evening time) as we do not want to miss it.

Onwards to our dinner place for the night!

Nodoguromeshi Hompo Itaru Kanazawa — **Nodoguromeshi Hompo Itaru**
Kanazawa

[Dinner at Nodoguromeshi Hompo Itaru]

The restaurant we are having dinner is Nodoguromeshi Hompo Itaru, and eating the Nodoguro fish in 3 different ways. Do click on the link for the detailed review!

I came in to dine without much expectation of this restaurant, mainly because I don’t have much experience regards to such dish and fish. So happy that I kept an open-mind and adventurous spirit!

Just a one-liner for it: It is BLOODY GOOD AF!

Note: Nodoguro (Akamutsu) also known as Blackthroat Seaperch aka Rosy Seabass in English, some even term it as the “King of White Fish”. They can only be caught along the coast of the Japan Sea. Guess what, Kanazawa is along the coast of that sea, and that means super fresh Nodoguro fish right in Kanazawa.

After dinner, we took a bus back to Kanazawa Station. The Tsuzumi Gate is also impressive at night with lights on, a very different feel to it.

Feels like a fusion between traditional magical but with a modern backdrop with it.

For us, we like the night version more.

Water Clock Kanazawa — **Water Clock**
Kanazawa

[Closing]

Opposite of the Tsuzumi Gate, there’s a Water Clock as you can see from my images. It will switch from showing “Kanazawa” and the actual timing. Quite unique I will say.

This concludes Day 4 of our trip, tomorrow will be a day trip to Shirakawago!

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Japan 2019 Trip Day 4: Nagano Zenkoji Temple and Kanazawa Higashi Chaya District