Japanese Culture & Crafts

This collection highlights the rich heritage of Kanazawa and Ishikawa Prefecture. Explore the well-preserved Higashi Chaya and Kazuemachi districts, where traditional geisha culture thrives in historic wooden architecture. Visit the 19th-century Seisonkaku Villa and the Ochaya Shima museum to see Edo-period craftsmanship. The list also features specialized museums dedicated to gold leaf artistry, Yuzen silk dyeing, and Noh theater. For a hands-on experience, the Yunokuni no Mori crafts village showcases regional traditions like pottery and lacquerware within a forest setting.

Higashi Chaya District

This district is named after chaya - a traditional house where the guests would come to see a performance by geishas.

Kazuemachi

This old geisha district is a labyrinth of traditional houses where geishas used to perform.

Ochaya Shima

Once a carefully polished place where geishas showed their skills of entertainment, it now houses a nice museum where you can see how the…

Seisonkaku Villa

The Seisonkaku is a large Japanese villa in the city of Kanazawa, built in 1863 by Maeda Nariyasu, 13th daimyō of the Kaga clan, as a…

Shinise Kinenkan Museum

This building formerly housed a pharmacy that belonged to one of Kanazawa’s most respected families.

Yasue Gold Leaf Museum

This museum was built in order to preserve the art of gold leaf craft for the future generations.

Nagamachi Yuzenkan

Visit this craft centre and see how the beautiful kimonos of this region are made.

Kanazawa Noh Art Museum

This museum preserves the tradition of Noh theatre - a form of classical Japanese musical drama.

Yunokuni no Mori

Yunokuni no Mori is a crafts village in Komatsu, a city located in the southern portion of Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan.