Kanaya-machi historic district

photo by Miyuki Meinaka · Public domain

photo by Isoyan · CC BY-SA 3.0

Japan's first foundry district protected by law: wooden lattices along 500 metres.

In 1609 the lord Maeda Toshinaga summoned seven casters from within his domain and settled them here, starting the copperwork that makes Takaoka Japan's capital of cast metal. The terraced houses, built between the Edo period and the early Shōwa era, have ‘senbon-goshi’ lattices (thin strips of wood that filter light and glances from the street), and at the back a courtyard separates the living quarters from the storehouse and the workshop, so that a fire in the workshop does not reach the house. In 2012 the district became Japan's first foundry district protected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

A Takaoka district that dates from the founding of the city in the early seventeenth century, the heart of the production of copperware (高岡銅器) that still supplies temples and homes all over Japan today.

ℹ️ The street, paved for about 500 metres, is public and can be walked at any time; some shops and workshops can be visited at their own hours. Source: Takaoka municipality.

🚉 Takaoka · 19 min walk

Sources: city.takaoka.toyama.jp · pref.toyama.jp

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