Compact Half-Day Tour: Secrets of Samurai City

My name is Michiko. I'm your local guide. Thank you for visiting my tour! I was born and raised in Kanazawa. Except for the wonderful few years I spent in Boston due to my husband's work, I have spent my entire life here. I love the city and tour guiding is my true calling. Nothing could be more joyful than showing you my hometown! This compact city is compact but the history is very rich and deep. The great warlord Maeda clan ruled this land for 286 years. This is even longer than the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In the Edo Period (17th –19th centuries), this was the fourth largest city in Japan, after Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, with one million goku (wealth that affords a million soldiers). For this reason, Kanazawa's rich culture flourished, still continuing to this day. I'm going to show you this great samurai culture through their living quarters, a shrine, a castle and one of the best Japanese gardens in the nation.

9:00 Meet at your hotel 9:30 Nagamachi Samurai District. Step back into Kanazawa’s samurai era as you stroll through Nagamachi, a quiet district of preserved homes, stone-paved alleys, and clay walls once belonging to warrior families. 10:30 Oyama Shrine—Dedicated to Lord Maeda Toshiie, the founder of the Kaga Domain, this shrine is known for its unique gate, blending Japanese, Chinese, and Western styles. 11:00 Kanazawa Castle—A symbol of Kanazawa’s feudal heritage, known for its white plaster walls, intricate design, and scenic park setting beside Kenrokuen Garden. 12:00 Kenrokuen. A masterpiece of Japanese landscape design, Kenrokuen blends water, greenery, and stone to express six classical garden virtues—spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourses, and panoramas.