The Kanazawa Gobō, a fortified temple complex backed by tall hills and flanked on two sides by rivers, became, in the sixteenth century, the site of a castle built by the Maeda clan which ruled the Kaga province for fourteen generations. Part of the castle’s domain became the Kenrokuen gardens, so after visiting the gardens it was the natural next stop in our tooling around Kanazawa.
The castle burned down in 1602, then again in 1631, and again in 1759, and—why break tradition?—again in 1881. It was designated as a National Historic Site in 2015, so it is currently in the process of being rebuilt. I’m not going to venture to predict when the next fire will take place, but from our visit it certainly looked like there will be a lot of wood to feed the fire.
It has some nice views, but it’s really empty. I think they should do with it what the French do with their empty palaces: turn it into an art gallery.
