Kotoji lantern
The garden's emblem.
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One of Japan's Three Great Gardens, with Kairaku-en and Kōraku-en: a strolling garden built up by the Maeda lords of the Kaga Domain between the 1620s and the 1840s, over about 11.4 hectares outside the gates of Kanazawa Castle, whose outer garden it once was. It has been a Special Place of Scenic Beauty since 1985. In 1822 it was named the «Garden of Six Attributes», after six qualities that classical Chinese writing held a single garden could rarely combine: spaciousness and seclusion, artifice and antiquity, water-courses and panoramas. It has about 8,750 trees of 183 plant species, the large Kasumi Pond, winding paths and streams. Its emblem is the two-legged Kotoji stone lantern at the pond's edge; the garden also has Japan's oldest fountain, driven by natural water pressure, and the Yūgao-tei teahouse, built in 1774 and the oldest building here. In winter, yukitsuri ropes are strung over the trees in cones to protect the branches from the weight of snow. Tickets are 320 yen, free for over-65s with proof of age, and it opens 7:00-18:00 from 1 March to 15 October and 8:00-17:00 the rest of the year, per visitor guides. A combined ticket with Kanazawa Castle's buildings costs 500 yen, according to the castle's official site.
The garden's emblem.
In winter.
Driven by water pressure.
Kenroku-machi, next to Kanazawa Castle
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, KanazawaA contemporary art museum opened in 2004 in central Kanazawa, designed by the Pr5 minutes walk3.6
Kanazawa Castle ParkA large, partly rebuilt castle, seat of the Kaga Domain, which the Maeda clan ru7 minutes walk4.2
Nagamachi Samurai DistrictAn old residential quarter where upper- and middle-ranking samurai families of t13 minutes walk4.2
Higashi Chaya DistrictKanazawa's best-known teahouse district, on the east bank of the Asano River, wh15 minutes walk4.3
Omicho MarketKanazawa's big covered market, nicknamed «Kanazawa's kitchen», with about 170 sh15 minutes walk3.97:00-18:00 from 1 March to 15 October and 8:00-17:00 the rest of the year; tickets are 320 yen, per visitor guides.