Although we were only in Kanazawa for a few days we managed to pack in plenty of activities and site-seeing. This included a Samurai museum which included - amongst the blood-thirsty weaponry and artefacts - the opportunity for me and A to demonstrate our dexterity with the Japanese throwing star - shuriken. As the photographic evidence below shows, I might have made a career as an Ninja with a bullseye in the target range on my third attempt!
We also had the opportunity to tour the “ninja” temple. In fact not really anything to do with ninja warriors but a fascinating insight into the tensions in Japan when the Samurai ruling class eventually agreed to the restoration of the monarchy. The Samurai were not allowed to construct “defensible” structures or indeed anything over three stories high so in Kanazawa they instead built a temple but which was specially designed - had the occasion required it - to allow aggressors to be repelled (as well have two additional floors that though a trick of architectural engineering could not be seen from the outside)
Accordingly, whilst to all appearances the building was a temple with prayer areas and the usual religious paraphernalia it had built into it various secret passages (including one said to connect it to Kanazawa castle which was some distance away through the well) and trapdoors, false ceilings and “nightingale” floors (essentially floorboards that squeaked whenever they were trodden on thereby making it almost impossible to sneak around without being detected - this was also a feature of many of the royal palaces that we visited).
Although our tour was in Japanese there was a very information English language booklet that we were given and there was no doubting the purpose and effectiveness of the various mantraps, hiding places and darkened ambush corners that the tour guide gleefully demonstrated to us as the incense and reverberating bells from the prayer area framed the atmosphere. A real highlight on a tour of highlights.
From there we then visited a former Samurai house - a very elegant affair with a beautiful garden and pond and lots of light airy room decorated in a manner befitting a member of the ruling class and a veritable oasis of tranquility (see pictures below) amongst the hubbub of city life.
We then made our way to the “Geisha” district - a maze of low rise wooden houses and shops that had in years gone by served as the entertainment quarter for the City and which today housed both retail opportunities as well as Geisha demonstrations and tea ceremonies. It was remarkably well preserved and was a good way of seeing how urban Japan looked before the destruction of the Second World War and the myriad earthquakes and fires of the last 200 years.
Our final night in Kanazawa was celebrated with a trip to “Coil” - a very modern restaurant where we had individual”box” tables and superb food - I am not sure I have ever been to a country where the sheer range, quality and price of the cuisine was so consistently good. (I also - finally - managed to get my phone to work after wrestling with the various telecom providers to explain why I was not able to make or receive any calls - it seems it was simply a question of enabling one of the buttons on my settings screen. Quite annoying but at least A had use of his phone and I was able to use my IPad to zoom/teams E and V back in Dubai).
From Kanazawa we took another Shinkansen before changing to the splendidly named Thunderbird train to Kyoto around 2.5 / 3 hours away. Our first act on arrival after checking in was to head to the Kyoto Rail Museum - a must for any fans of trains whether the latest bullet trains (and their various iterations from their introduction in 1965) back to the steam locomotives of the 19 and early 20th centuries. A and I had a complete blast exploring the huge range of rail and railway related exhibits as well as the recreation of turn of the Century candy stores and stationmaster offices. Great fun.
Our final act on the first day in Kyoto was to enjoy a nice pint of Guinness in a traditional Japanese Irish pub (the Gnome)!
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