Nomura Samurai House

This article is based on a visit made on Thursday, 17 May 2018.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited the Nagamachi samurai district in Kanazawa, starting with the Shinise Memorial Museum, a former merchant's home.  As much as I enjoyed that place, it is perhaps not an ideal representation of what Nagamachi is all about.  But I sought to correct that image by heading deeper into the neighbourhood.

The samurai, the warrior class of Edo-era Japan, were given preferential treatment by the ruling daimyo lords.  Samurai were the only caste who were allowed to own swords, and were paid in large sums of rice, which was used as currency in that time.  In Kanazawa, the lords of the Maeda clan set up homes for them in this location near the castle.  This system went on until 1871, near the start of the Meiji era.  Whilst not many original samurai houses remain, their families having sold the land for other development, recent efforts have been made to preserve what is left.

The canal running through here served both as a moat to protect the area, and to channel supply boats to and from the port.  The walls are built in layers of bamboo, gravel, and mud.  In the winter, they are protected further by an additional layer of straw cladding, known as komokake (薦掛け, lit. 'hanging straw').  Between this and the pine tree supports over in Kenroku-en, the people of Kanazawa take snow preparation seriously.  And with the kind of weather this place gets, I can imagine why.

Nagamachi may not match the scale or degree of preservation of Kyoto's Higashiyama district (i.e. you'll still see some overhead power lines here), but still boasts a few pleasant alleyways to explore.  Mind you, most of the older buildings here are private homes with nothing to offer the average traveller besides aesthetics.

That said, Nagamachi still punches hard with a few museums documenting the area in its glory days, which brings me to the focus of this article: the Nomura family house (野村家, Nomura-ke).  The Nomura family was one of the wealthier samurai families of the area, earning a yearly salary of 1,000 to 2,200 koku of rice (equivalent to 71-157 million yen / 0.66-1.455 million US dollars in 2019) and possessing a homestead of 3,300 m² at their peak.  When the feudal system was abolished, this plot was passed around multiple owners and eventually sold to the city of Kanazawa, which re-opened it as a public museum.

The largest room in the house is the drawing room, or jodan-no-ma (上段の間, lit. 'raised-floor room').  It is blocked off, but visible from the adjoining rooms.

One of those rooms has a gilded Buddhist altar recessed in the far wall.

The Nomuras' wealth shows in the many artistic details adorning the place, such as these carved panels above the sliding doors.

The rooms on the first floor look out upon a small private garden.  Given the relative size of this garden, the Nomuras must have been very wealthy back in the day.  Today's visitors may only look out onto the garden and not step into it, but it is as dense as all get-out, especially in this season.

The garden also incorporates a pond, sourced from the canals outside, where a few golden carp had swum out to greet us.

Some of the doorways, such as this one leading up to the second floor, are small and short, so taller people -- even yours truly -- will have to take care crossing them.  But once you're past those, a teahouse operates on the second floor, allowing visitors to savour a cup of green tea for only ¥300.  However, at that time the place was booked by a school group on a field trip.  Not that I minded so much, since I already got to experience a cup at Kenroku-en earlier that day, but I still couldn't explore this floor as much as I wanted to.

Also included among the manor's grounds is a small museum.  Its name, the Onikawa Bunko (鬼川文庫, lit. "ogre river library"), refers to the Onikawa irrigation canal, which in turn referred to an oni spirit that was deified nearby.  The museum holds a collection of swords, letters, and other objects d'art pertaining to the Nomura family and the Maeda daimyo clan.

These are examples of mon (文), Japanese coins used from the 14th to 19th centuries.  Like the concurrent Chinese wen and Korean mun, mon coins all had holes in the centre, allowing them to be strung together in bundles.  Some merchants would offer slight discounts when paid in strung-together mon.  Even today, the 5 and 50 yen coins retain holes like these.

I found the Nomura House in particular to be a bit of a tourist trap.  There’s not an awful lot of specific things to see, or room to move around in, especially around the otherwise-pretty garden.  At least, it seemed that way with how many guests we had to pass by.  I actually preferred the Shinise Memorial Hall, as I wrote about previously.  Of course, my experience may not be the same as yours.  Perhaps you might visit at a different time of day and get fewer crowds, and then it may feel just as serene as intended.  Until then, I'll just try my luck at our last stop for the day: the Higashi Chaya district, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Hours: Open from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, or until 4:30 PM between October and March.  Admission ends 30 minutes before closing time.  Closed on 26-27 December and 1-2 January.

Costs: ¥550.

Address: 1-3-32 Nagamachi, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken 〒920-0865

Access: The Nomura House is 5 minutes on foot from the Korinbo bus stop.  From Kanazawa Station, take the Kanazawa Left Loop bus, the Kenrokuen Shuttle, or a JR bus to Korinbo (10 minutes, ¥200).

Directions: From Korinbo, walk north and turn left at the 2nd traffic light, the Korinbo Ni-chome (香林坊二丁目) intersection.  Walk down to the end of the road, turn left, then right.  The museum will be on your left at the next crossing.

From the Shinise Memorial Museum, simply head left (facing away from the building) along the canal for 200m (650 ft.), about 2 minutes.  Turn right at the second crossing along, and the Nomura House will be on your right.

Website: (Japanese/English)

Shinise Memorial Museum

This article is based on a visit made on Thursday, 17 May 2018.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited Kanazawa, going from the Kenroku-en garden straight to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art.  From old to new, our next destination took us back to Kanazawa's old side.  I led my grandmother and myself due west to Nagamachi, a former samurai district.  I shall go more in-depth into Nagamachi in the next article, but for now, let us focus on the museum which met us at the entrance to this neighbourhood: the Shinise Memorial Hall (老舗記念館, Shinise Kinen-kan).

Nagamachi (長町) was set up during the early 17th century as a neighbourhood for the samurai class to live, due to its proximity to Kanazawa Castle.  Whilst the samurai thrived during the Edo period, their fortunes fell upon entering the Meiji era in the mid-19th century, having lost many of their privileges amidst the sweeping societal reforms.  It was in that power vacuum that the status of merchant class rose, which brings us to the Nakaya family.

The Nakayas were the owners of a medicine shop which served the lords of the Maeda clan since 1579.  Three centuries later, they set up this new building as a pharmacy, which was eventually donated to the city of Kanazawa and turned into a public museum.  As you enter, you will first walk along the storefront (みせの間, mise no ma), which has been re-created to appear as it would have back in the Meiji era.

Along the way, you will also see the tools and ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine, as was made by this shop.  From left to right, the jars here contain rubber tree (トチュウ, tochū), dried viper (ハンピ, hanpi), bishop's hat flowers (インヨウカク, in'yōkaku), turmeric (ウコン, ukon), cinnamon (ケイヒ, keihi), and cloves (チョウジ, chōji).

Directly behind the storefront is the lounge or living room (おえの間, oe no ma).  Merchant's houses like these made room for both the shop and the living quarters of its proprietors.

Behind the lounge and other rooms is a small, but pleasant garden to look out upon.

The second floor of this building showcases different regional crafts.  For example, there is a whole room devoted to temari (てまり/手まり, lit. "hand ball"), hand-sized cloth balls with intricate fabric patterns.  The ones made around Kanazawa are called Kaga temari (加賀てまり), named after the former Kaga domain which covered this area during the feudal ages.  Originally, temari were used to play games, but it soon became fashionable to craft them for display, with embroidery and finer materials.  In Kanazawa, there is a tradition of mothers donating a temari to their daughters upon marriage.

Another decorative craft associated with weddings is the mizuhiki (水引, lit. 'pulled water'), the cords that are tied around wedding gift packages.  The level of detail on some of these, especially the one shaped like a pair of fish, seem like origami on steroids!

Think I'm joking?  Here's a close-up!

And if you thought that was amazing, this tree was made entirely out of candy.  Now that's dandy!
(Lame rhyme is lame.  I apologise.)

The rotating exhibition during my visit showcased even more crafts which Kanazawa is famous for.  One of its most renowned exports is lacquerware with gold-leaf foil.  They can make just about anything with this stuff, from mirrors to trays to sword scabbards.

And here are some tools and techniques that go into making gold leaf.  Pure gold is melted with certain other minerals (right) to create the desired tones, and then pounded into sheets of a near-microscopic thickness, usually around 0.1 to 0.125 micrometres (4-5 millionths of an inch) [1].  The sheets of gold are laid in between sheets of parchment (upper left), which is one of the best materials for withstanding the many blows dealt during the beating process.  The resulting product is so delicate that just touching a pounded sheet could be enough to melt it with one's body heat, so chopstick-like tongs (lower-left) are used to handle them.

I thought I'd end on another shot of temari, just for my grandmother.  All in all, the Shinise Memorial Museum was a low-key yet pleasant museum.  Compared to the more famous Nomura samurai house, we had this place almost all to ourselves.  That may not always be the case, and there isn’t as much room to move around should it be so, but our impression was exceedingly pleasant.  Still, if you want to see what the Nomura house was like, along with the rest of Nagamachi, join me next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Hours: Open from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM.  Admission ends 30 minutes before closing time.  No regular closing days.

Costs: ¥100.

Address: 2-2-45 Nagamachi, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken 〒920-0865

Access: The Shinise Memorial Museum is 5 minutes on foot from the Korinbo bus stop.  From Kanazawa Station, take the Kanazawa Left Loop bus, the Kenrokuen Shuttle, or a JR bus to  Korinbo (10 minutes, ¥200).

Directions: From Korinbo, walk south and turn right at the next traffic light, the Nichigin-mae (日銀前) intersection.  Walk down to the end of the road, turn left, then right.  Continue straight to the end of this road, crossing a small bridge along the way.  The museum is off to the left along the intersecting road.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

[1] Vilfranc, Jenifer M.  "Thickness of Gold Leaf".  The Physics Factbook.  1999, retrieved 4 June 2019.  https://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/JeniferVilfranc.shtml

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

This article is based on a visit made on Thursday, 17 May 2018.

Edit 15 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited Kanazawa.  After doing the rounds at Kenroku-en, which is on many a tourist's radar, my next stop was one of a more personal interest: the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (金沢21世紀美術館, Kanazawa Nijūichi-seiki Bijutsukan).  This museum, founded in 2004, showcases modern art installations from creators the world over.

The museum is situated in a circle-shaped, glass-walled building with three different entrances.  This design is meant to encourage visitors not to experience art from only one viewpoint.  Although, if you wound up gravitating towards the entrance by the ticket desk, as we did, I wouldn't blame you.  Some of the museum's works are situated outside the main exhibit areas, and are free to explore.  One of these is "Colour Activity House" by Olafur Eliasson (Denmark, b. 1967).  It consists of three curved transparent panels forming a round pavilion.  By passing your gaze through multiple panels, additional colours can be seen.  Because that's how light works.  The orb in the centre can reflect the light of the sunset and project even more colours about the landscape... if the cloud cover cooperates, which in Kanazawa is not a given.

Heading into the museum itself, the entrance hall was dotted by pillars dressed in trouser-legs and shoes!  That's what I like about modern art: you never know what to expect.

Arguably the museum's most iconic piece is "The Swimming Pool" by Leandro Erlich (Argentina, b. 1973).  Within the free zone, you can walk up to it and look at it from above, where it appears to be an ordinary swimming pool.

But, as part of paid admission, you can step down into the pool!  The water on top is actually a thin layer atop a glass sheet, letting you walk underneath.  There's not much down here, but if you're already checking out the paid exhibitions, it's a nice bonus.

Cameras and cell phones are not allowed within the paid areas, presumably to protect the artists' copyrights, so I don't have any pictures to show you of the artworks within.  So instead, I shall describe some of my favourites.  Note that the pieces described below may no longer be on display by the time you visit.  In that case, the museum's website has an online catalog of the works in its past and present collections, which I shall be linking to as we go along.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

• "setting the butterfly free" by Takehito Koganezawa (Japan, b. 1974).  This piece consists of a looped video clip projected onto three walls of a room, showing a flipbook being flipped through, animating a series of coloured splotches.  The flipbook used in the film is on display in the centre of the room.
• The sculptures "My Own" and "One Way or Another" by Tony Cragg (England, b. 1949), and "Glass no.4 H" by Kazuo Kadonaga (Japan, b, 1946).  All three pieces are abstract sculptures of different media (fibreglass, marble, and glass respectively) which feature wild, twisting shapes.
• Various pillar sculptures by Isa Genzken (Germany, 1948).  These works, including the "New Building For Berlin" series, consist of wooden columns adorned with all manner of materials: paint, metal, marble, mirrors, photos, etc.
• "Rotating Pyramid II" by Jeppe Hein (Denmark, b. 1974).  This piece consists of a mirror-lined pyramid, mounted sideways along the wall, that rotates by a motor behind the base.
• "L'Origine du monde" by Anish Kapoor (India, b. 1954).  This piece consists of a grey concrete room.  The back wall slopes upwards and has a large, black, oval-shaped hole cut into it. 
• "Scale (1/16 Inch = 1 Foot)" by Runa Islam (Bangladesh, b. 1970).  This piece consists of two videos projected onto two separate panels, one in front of the other.  One is of an empty parking garage, and one is of a restaurant.  Both sets were filming locations for Get Carter (1971), a British crime drama starring Michael Caine.  Occasionally the two shots will switch places, and while nothing much seems to be happening in either video, they are presented with an ominous ambience to make you feel like they're leading up to something, even if you can't figure out what.  I didn't stay to find out, but as somebody who has dabbled in video editing before, this kind of juxtaposition creates interesting effects for the viewer.

During my visit, the museum's secondary exhibit was devoted to Christine Ay Tjoe, an artist born in Bandung, Indonesia in 1973 and active since 2000.  Her paintings are inspired by her previous experience with drypoint print-making, and thus have a scratchy, sketchy look to them, with many works also employing the use of negative space.  Thematically, most of her works are based on matters of Christian spirituality.  For example, the painting "Too Many Fishes" (2013) consists of lots of simple fish-shaped figures surrounding an explosive burst of red in the centre of the frame.  Given her usual subject matter, I would imagine this was based on a Biblical event like the Miraculous catches of fish.  Again, I don't have my own pictures, but the museum's website has a page on this exhibition with some samples of her work: (English) (Japanese)

But as part of this exhibition, something completely different stuck with me the most.  "Lama Sabakhtani #01" (2010) consists of a guillotine (with its blade thankfully in the "down" position), a network of small metal balls hanging from the ceiling, and some lights mounted onto the guillotine's frame, which cast shadows of the balls all across the walls of the otherwise-empty room.  The title "Lama Sabakhtani", which means "why have you forsaken me" in Aramaic and other languages, and is taken from one of the sayings of Jesus Christ during His crucifixion, as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.  I suppose that is where the idea for the guillotine came from.  But really, you can't go wrong with such stark imagery.  It's bound to evoke vivid images in anyone who sees it.

I very much enjoyed this museum and found it quite relevant to my interests, although bear in mind that I am a bit weird.  I don't expect this type of art to be in everyone's tastes, but then again, you know what they say about the eye of the beholder.  Having a bunch of pieces on public display without needing to pay for them is a welcome bonus.  If nothing else, check those out, and see what else captures your fancy!  But for now, I must press on with the recount of my adventures in Kanazawa, continuing with Nagamachi, the former samurai district, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Hours: Paid exhibitions are open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, or to 8:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.  Free areas within the museum building are open from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM.  Closed on Mondays and New Year's Day.

Costs: Up to ¥1,200 for paid exhibitions.

Address: 1-2-1 Hirosaka, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken 〒920-8509

Access: From bus stop 6 at Kanazawa Station, take a JR or Hokutetsu bus to Hirosaka / 21st-Century Museum (10 minutes, ¥200).  You can also take the Kanazawa Loop buses or Kenrokuen Shuttle to the same stop, albeit in twice the time. (20 minutes, ¥200).  For those also visiting Kenroku-en, the museum is across the corner from the park's western Mayumizaka Gate.

Website: (English) (Japanese)