[Kanazawa Castle Town (① Maeda Clan Samurai Culture)] (Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Former Province Name: Kaga)

Of the more than 250 domains that existed throughout the Edo period, the Kaga Domain (currently in southern Ishikawa Prefecture) boasted the largest amount of rice. Its territory extended to neighboring Noto (currently in northern Ishikawa Prefecture) and Ecchu (currently in Toyama Prefecture), and it enjoyed the so-called "Kaga Hyakumangoku" (one million koku) domain. The founder of the domain, Maeda Toshiie (1538-1599), rose from a close attendant to Oda Nobunaga to support the government of his ally Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and is still well-known today for the support he received from his wife, Matsu (1547-1617, Buddhist name Hoshun-in). After the Battle of Shizugatake (1583, the battle in which Hideyoshi defeated Shibata Katsuie and gained hegemony. Toshiie, who was close friends with both men, initially sided with Katsuie but later withdrew from the battlefield and submitted to Hideyoshi), Toshiie took possession of Kaga Province and selected Kanazawa as his base. Kanazawa was originally the site of Oyama Gobo, the base of the Ikko Ikki rebellion that swept across the Hokuriku region during the Sengoku period. After the rebellion was put down, Katsuie's subordinate, Sakuma Morimasa (1554-1583), built a castle on the site of the Gobo. Toshiie extensively remodeled the castle into a modern castle and at the same time began the development of the castle town. Since then, the castle town has continued to develop under the successive lords of Kaga, and it has been passed down to present-day Kanazawa City as the political and economic center of the domain. Tsunanori (1643-1724), the great-grandson of Toshiie, was known as one of the most wise rulers of the Edo period, and developed a government of civil rule that focused on culture and the development of the legal system. The symbol of this is Kenrokuen (photos 1, 5-7), which was originally a mansion built by Tsunanori next to Kanazawa Castle, and its name means that it combines the six virtues of gardens and ponds, as described in Chinese classics from the Song dynasty. Since Tsunanori's time, the garden has been expanded many times, and today, the Kotoji Lantern and the Snow Hanging of Karasaki Pine are popular sights that represent Kanazawa. Many of the residences of samurai still remain in the castle town, and the remains of Nagamachi Samurai Residences (photo 8) in particular still retain their original appearance. The narrow streets leading to the group of houses paradoxically show the scale of the body and the gaze of Japanese people in the Edo period, and compared to the "Chaya District," another famous tourist spot in Kanazawa, they have a somewhat simple atmosphere. The "Samurai Residences Nomura Family" is a small world that fully incorporates the charm of nature, and is a place of comfort. When the Kaga domain was abolished with the Meiji Restoration, Kanazawa, whose economy and industry had circulated around the existence of the domain, suffered a major blow. The repercussions reached not only the samurai who were essentially unemployed, but also the bearers of crafts and arts that had been supported by demand from samurai and townspeople, and the population, which had been the fourth largest in Japan at the end of the Edo period, went out. The city rapidly declined (this economic situation triggered the assassination of Okubo Toshimichi by a former Kaga domain samurai (=Kioizaka Incident in 1878). Nevertheless, when the former Fourth High School was established in 1887 and the 9th Army Division was established in 1898, Kanazawa was rebuilt as an educational and military city. A new streetscape with a modern atmosphere was created. The army arsenal located in Dewa-cho in the city is currently used as the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of History (photos 9-10), and its elegant red brick architecture is eye-catching. The warehouses are skillfully divided into exhibition rooms, and the design, which connects them with a sophisticated and modern space, harmonizes effortlessly. By linking it to the history of not only Kanazawa, but also the ancient Hakusan faith and the Ikko Ikki uprisings in the Middle Ages, the content allows you to understand the overall picture of Kaga Province. Kanazawa, with its stable rule by the same lord, has matured the climate and culture that have been passed down in Kaga Province since ancient times. The history of the development of the castle town has become a solid foundation for its current appearance as a world-class tourist and artistic city. Access: 15 minutes by bus from Kanazawa Station (to Kenrokuen) Recommended for solo travelers: ★★★ (There are quite a few people, but it's a large place so it doesn't bother me) Visit date: Around 12:00 on a weekday in the second week of May #Kanazawa #KanazawaCity #IshikawaTrip #IshikawaTourism #ishikawakanko #Hokuriku #HokurikuTrip #HokurikuTourism #KanazawaTrip #KanazawaTourism #KanazawaTime #KanazawaCastle #CastleTour #CastleTour #Japan's100FamousCastles #CastleLover #CastleTown #Kenrokuen #Japan'sThreeFamousGardens #GardenTour #JapaneseGarden #IshikawaPrefecturalMuseumofHistory #ModernArchitecture #RedBrick #RedBrickWarehouse #MaedaToshiie #HistoryLover #SoloTrip #LifeWithTravel