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!
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
