Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture JAPAN(in English) | TINY LIFE

Ishikawa is a Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshu, located in the middle of Japan and then Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture.
There are a lot of nice places in Ishikawa prefecture such as Kanazawa, Noto Peninsula and Kaga Onsen but let me show you the Kanazawa City that I actually went to. The population of Kanazawa is around 460,000 and the total area of the city is about 468.00 square kilometers. The Kanazawa is famous for gold leaf because the name of the “Kanazawa” (金沢) contains gold. There are a lot of sightseeing spot such as Museums, Parks and you can see the contemporary art and then you can feel the ancient city.

Kanazawa Station

Kanazawa station is one of the top 14 most beautiful stations in the world.
It rains a lot in Kanazawa and especially It snow a lot during the winter and so the idea of this design comes from a umbrella to present for visitors and those who got off the station.In addition, There are a lot of Japanese concept of hospitality such as the building made of glass named “Motenashi dome” and also you will find the “Tsuzumi-mon Gate” which is a new symbol of Kanazawa.

As you can see, The station’s architecture is really beautiful and very impressive but the illuminated is really gorgeous and it has a completely different at night.

How to get there

Tokyo to Kanazawa

If you go to there from Tokyo, I recommend the bullet train. The bullet train named Hokuriku Shinkansen, between Tokyo and Kanazawa which has two types of train “Kagayaki” and “Hakutaka” and neither of the bullet trains is need transfer. Kagayaki and Hakutaka run on the same section but there are more train stops in Hakutaka than in Kagayaki which is the Kagayaki takes about 2 and a half hours and the Hakutaka takes about 3 hours from Tokyo to Kanazawa. And then both prices are the same and it costs around 14,380 yen for a one way tickets.

Osaka to Kanazawa

If you go to there from Osaka or Kyoto, I recommend the Thunderbird train because you do not have to do change trains. you can buy a tickets at the Ticket Counter. Between Osaka and Kanazawa cost around 7,260 yen one way by non-reserved seat and It takes about 3 hours and Between Kyoto and Kanazawa cost around 6,490 yen one way by non-reserved seat and It takes about 2 hours 20 minutes. If you want to buy reserved seats, both the train are plus about 500 yen.

How to transportation in Kanazawa

Bus

I highly recommend you get the one day passenger ticket that is you can get on and off the train many times a day including the Kanazawa loop bus, the Kenrokuen shuttle and other buses in Kanazawa city. When you arrive in Kanazawa, you can buy a tickets at the Hokutetsu Bus Ticket Office and Transportation Information Center (Bus Ticket Counter) at the Kanazawa station.

Adults 600 yen, Kids 300 yen
Kanazawa Loop Bus

Machi-Nori Bicycle

Renting a bicycle is a great way to get around Kanazawa. I could go sightseeing without worrying about the time of transportation such as buses. You can easy to go on a bicycle because the most of the popular tourist spots are close together and most of the roads are fairly smooth and flat. In addition, all bicycle has electric system and you can climb easily even on slopes.

There are several price plans but If you want to use the bicycle for many days during your stay, you had better register for membership and select the single use plans. This is 150 yen for the first 30 minutes and if you bicycle is not returned within 30 minutes, additional fee of 100 yen will be changed and then the limit is 2000 yen in a day. It only take credit card and Docomo pay. In addition, If you want to use without worry about time, I recommend the one day pass. This is you don’t need to register for membership and it’s 1500 yen a day and then It only take cash payments.

The Machi-Nori Head Office is so close to the station and it only takes about 2 minutes on foot. If you want to rental a bicycle, It might be a good idea to rental a bicycle here. And then there are many other cycle ports locations, about 66 locations in Kanazawa but there is only 9 locations that sell one day pass.

Machi-Nori Bicycle In Kanazawa

Kenrokuen Garden

The Kenrokuen is one of the best 3 beautiful garden in Japan alongside Mito’s Kairakuen and Okayama’s Korakuen. Kenrokuen was originally a garden that belonged to Kanazawa Castle and were constructed the garden by the family of Maeda in 1676. The name of Kenrokuen literally means, ’’The garden of six sublimities‘’ referring to its six themes of beauty: spaciousness, quiet seclusion, artificial, antiquity, water and scenery.

There are a pond, tearoom, fountain, small bridge and Tsukiyama in spacious garden. Tourist will be enjoy whenever you go there because there are cherry blossom tree and a lot of greenery and then you can see a breathtaking beauty view when it snow.

This is Mayumizaka. Go straight ahead you will find an entrance and this entrance is the closest the 21st Century Museum.

Go straight the Renchi-Mon street you will find an entrance of Katsurazaka and there are bus stop, taxi stand, bicycle parking, Chamise Street and Ishikawa Bridge.

There are seven entrance in Kenrokuen garden. If you go by Machi-Nori Bicycle, the bicycle parking lot is at the end of taxi stands at the top of the hill.

This is the ticket counter.

In spring, you can see a lot of cherry blossom tree through this entrance and there are about 8,200 trees in the garden. Among them, It’s said that the Karasaki pine tree are most beautiful.

The Kasumiga pond is the best part of Kenroku garden because it is so huge and these trees reflected on the surface of the water are really beautiful. There is an observatory near here, tourist can overlook the city.

This large stone was used as a pedestal for the statue of Yamato Takeru but was cracked and it couldn’t reuse stone so replaced with new stone in 1991.

This is entrance of Sazae Mountain and the height of the mountain is only 9 meters. There is a bench at the top of the mountain where you can take a break while watching a beautiful view.

You can overlook the Kasumiga pond from here.

The fountain in Kenrokuen garden is the oldest in Japan. Since Kasumiga pond is the water source, It changes depends on the water level of the Kasumiga pond. Normally, this fountain reaches a height of 3 to 5 meters and It is powered by nature water pressure.

Visitors can enjoy traditional Japanese tea and sweets while looking at the Japanese garden and then you can observe a part of tearoom. This tearoom has long history and it has been in existence before family of Maeda created the garden.After that the tearoom was demolished in early Meiji period and It has been rebuilt in March, 2000.

There are some walking trail in the garden and outside where visitors can buy souvenirs or relax at a cafe. Especially, it is really beautiful in spring because there are a lot of cherry blossom tree.