Kazuemachi Teahouse District

photo by 金沢市 · CC BY 2.1 jp

photo by 金沢市 · CC BY 2.1 jp

The third of Kanazawa's three geisha districts: one alley stays dark at midday.

Along the bank of the Asano River runs a row of teahouses with kimusuko wooden lattices, more compact and less crowded than its sisters in Higashi and Nishi. A stone stairway, the Kuragari-zaka (‘slope of darkness’), climbs from the river to the upper district, squeezed between houses and trees: it stays in shade even in broad daylight, and it is the same one that the writer Izumi Kyōka, born a few steps from here, used to take to go to school.

The district takes its name from the residence that the samurai Tomita Kazue had here in the Edo period. Together with Higashi and Nishi, it is one of Kanazawa's three historic teahouse districts, and it is recognised as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

ℹ️ Public street, open to visitors at any time. 10 minutes by car from Kanazawa Station, 5 minutes' walk from Hashiba-chō bus stop: the same one as for Higashi Chaya, on the other bank of the river.

🚉 Hokutetsu Kanazawa · 20 min walk

Sources: kanazawa-kankoukyoukai.or.jp · hot-ishikawa.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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