Happy to be Traveling

Not if you’ve decided to drop by the D.T. Suzuki Museum in Kanazawa. Which we did after hiking up to some wonderful shrines in the hills overlooking the city.  When I was in college my Zen reading included Suzuki along with Alan Watts.  I discovered after we got here that Suzuki was raised in Kanazawa and there…

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…

I believe the sign is honest. There is a guy in the rabbit costume. Made me so sad. Grubb does not believe. He thinks it’s a hoax. What say you?

From the old samurai residence to Kanazawa’s Museum of Contemporary Art was a twenty minute walk.  The museum is a low round building of shaded glass.   Inside, individual artworks are given dimly lit spaces the size of a banquet hall, so there’s plenty of time to circle the pieces you admire as you peer through the…

Yesterday’s roaming took us first to the Nagamchi area, aka the Samurai district where warriors chilled when they weren’t out battling. Our first stop was the restored Nakaya Chinese Pharmacy, established 1579. The pharmacy occupied the first floor of Shinese Memorial Hall. The second floor used to be a residence for the shop owners but…

Grubb talked about the preserved residence of wealthy samurai Nomura in his “Not built for Belushi” post.  Rounding a corner leading to Nomura’s garden, an attendant wrangled us. Reading from his hand held translator he said “ come here to listen to the sound feature”. I was to place a bamboo tube to my ear…

When the Meiji Restoration broke up the last feudal land holdings in Japan, most of the old samurai houses were destroyed.  However, the Nomura house in Kanazawa was bought by an industrialist and preserved.  There are rooms built out of cypress wood with sliding thick paper doors.  It’s a house that has the fragrant smell of the…

Yesterday, Grubb mentioned in his kind way 🤣 that I might be having a “breath issue” 😩. My reaction? “No way, that’s your breath!” And then I snuck into the bathroom to re-floss and re-brush. Okay so maybe my dental hygiene while traveling isn’t stellar. Maybe I needed some extra strength mouthwash. This afternoon after…

We were in a museum which was a reconstructed apothecary shop from the early Meiji era  and I saw on display a special wheat confection called “fu” that was dissolving in hot water and it occurred to me that was what I sank my teeth into last night.  It wasn’t soap, and it wasn’t dessert, but it…

The mystery of geishas only heightened for me yesterday when we roamed one of the old geisha districts, Higashi Chaya-gai, in Kanazawa.  More accurately, this is known as a Teahouse district. Historic buildings with wood lattice fronts…so you could get a hint of the elegance inside? Streets lined with colorful lanterns. What was it like on…

Descending from the Kenrokuen Garden we made it to the Omichi Market.  The green curtain hanging halfway down at the entrance is a known as a “noren”. Norens hang over entrances to places that serve food. They ward off heat and provide a sense of privacy. The Omichi Market featured a large emporium of food…

By the looks of it, this item could be a bar of soap, or dessert. But there’s only one way of checking. Hmm…. It turns out to be a hollow cracker with dried greens.  Not a taste sensation.

Among other things (like gold leaf and fu buns, snow crab and sea bream sushi), Kanazawa boasts production of the finest sake made with premo water straight from the mountain and locally grown rice. Our apartment host (Bill Smith…anyone think that’s not an alias?) prides himself on local sake knowledge so I asked “where can…

According to the Chinese classic, Rakuyo-Meienki, there are six excellent elements that can go into forming a garden.  “If there is spaciousness, seclusion will be diminished.  If artifice dominates, it lacks antiquity.  If there are many watercourses, it will lack commanding views.  Koen garden is the only garden that combines these six elements.” The Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa translates…

Crossing a bridge into the Higashi Chaya-gai (Eastern teahouse district), a Japanese man got my attention by pointing down at my feet with his cane at an embedded round tile and then sighting his cane out towards the river. I didn’t quite get it. His friend, who could speak some English, explained this is the…