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!
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)
