Kanazawa Station — Tsuzumi-mon and Motenashi Dome

photo by Kakidai · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sixth among the 14 most beautiful stations in the world (Travel+Leisure): a nō drum, 13.7 metres.

Two spiral columns support a 13.7-metre-high gateway that echoes the shape of the tsuzumi, the drum of the nō tradition of the Kaga Hōshō school, with its roof clad in copper like the skin of the instrument. Behind it, the Motenashi Dome covers the square with 3,019 panes of tempered glass held by 6,000 pieces of aluminium framing, conceived as a permanent umbrella in a city where it often rains and snows; a tension ring 12 metres in diameter and 40 centimetres thick bears its weight, and the columns hide the pipes that recycle rainwater.

Built for the arrival of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the pair formed by Tsuzumi-mon and Motenashi Dome was chosen in 2011 by the American magazine Travel+Leisure as one of the 14 most beautiful railway stations in the world, sixth in the ranking and the only Japanese one on the list. Every evening from sunset to midnight the gateway is lit up in the five traditional colours of Kaga (加賀五彩).

ℹ️ Public space in the station, always accessible. Kenrokuen exit (east side) of JR Kanazawa Station.

🚉 Kanazawa · 2 min walk

Sources: tenki.jp · kanazawa-kankoukyoukai.or.jp · kanazawa-kankoukyoukai.or.jp

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