２０１０年２７日６月

This was one of those weekends where we had a considerable amount of work, but NO ONE was in the mood to actually do any of it. I had planned earlier to adventure out into Kanazawa with my friends Taylor and John. Stupidly enough, I almost let homework get in the way, but then I realized that experiencing Kanazawa was way more important than sitting inside and doing worthless homework sheets.

Our plan for the day was to hit up Ninja-dera, and the Geisha district. Since we were not allowed to take any photos of the Ninja-dera, I don't have any of the interior...which is a shame! Ninja-dera has nothing to do with being a ninja, or practicing the art of ninjutsu, but who needs it when a house of this caliber basically transforms you into a ninja. The place is called Ninja-dera because it is a four story house (which wasn't allowed at the time), with seven different levels, 29 stair cases, and 23 different rooms, along with various hidden passages, rooms, and drop-downs.

While most of the rooms in the house were relatively normal, there were a few special rooms that had a specific purpose, or were built a certain way to keep away enemies (A lot of the time, Ninja-dera was used to keep enemies away from the Emperor). One of the rooms had an even number of tatami mats which represented death (I think this is correct...), and the objective of this room was to take enemies there and kill them out of plain site.

Another one of the rooms was built in such a way, that it made it nearly impossible for combat with weapons to happen because the ceiling was built so low. The weird part, is that the ceiling was curved in such a way that it prevented people in the room from feeling claustrophobic...weird.


After hitting up Ninja-dera, we headed towards the Geisha District...which was a lot harder to find than we had initially thought. While grabbing a drink out of a randomly placed vending machine, I saw an older lady leave a building so I stupidly said "hello" since she was looking our way. By this time, this was just another addition to my random old lady encounters. Anyway, the lady seemed rather intrigued by us, and invited us over to chat about the area and why were in Japan etc. I was really impressed by her English speaking skills! She said that she was impressed with our Japanese skills, but it was mostly John doing all the fancy Japanese stuff :P After taking a group shot, and giving us a postcard from her Tea House, she told us to return before going back the US. Unfortunately this never happened due to time constraints >< Along the way we found a small souvenir shop with ice-cream, but more importantly, with SESAME SEED ice-cream! Sounds crazy, but it was probably my favorite ice-cream flavor from Japan. And since Kanazawa is known for adorning their food with edible gold, that was the topper on our ice-cream. It was almost too pretty to eat ^^

Geisha District! While we didn't see any Geishas, it was interesting to see old architecture hidden away in the more urban and somewhat suburban area of Kanazawa. The area mostly consisted of shops, and restaurants and some Geisha performances at night. It was a nice change of pace compared to the more suburban setting of University.

After wrapping up in the Geisha district we ran into a Police Officer who for some reason, we started talking to. As usual, he was also interested in why were in Japan, and what we were doing in the area etc. Oddly enough, while talking to the Police Officer that led to another person wanting to talk to us. This time it was a man that invited us to view the preparation for some ritual that involves purifying the body, mainly pregnant women. We weren't exactly sure what was going on, but it was interesting, since it involved weaving together large amounts of leaves and stalks.

The man then told us that if we went up the hill, we would be able to see a breathtaking view of downtown Kanazawa. Trekking up that hill resulted in copious amounts of sweating since that day was particularly humid, but the end result was absolutely worth it! Atop of the hill there was a small shrine, and one of the most amazing views ever. Too bad the weather was rather overcast, but it was awesome to see downtown Kanazawa from a different perspective!

We were so high up, that you clearly see the Kenrokuen Gardens, and Kanazawa Castle.

The rest of the day consisted of us getting lost and discovering hidden things within the Kanazawa area. One of them being this gorgeous hydrangea and iris garden. The garden had all the different colored hydrangea, along with some of the deepest colored iris you will ever see.

I really wish I had been able to come back here on a sunnier day.

Photo by Taylor Chrien

Since the day was growing more overcast throughout the day, we had decided by this point that it was probably a good idea to head back...we also didn't know the bus schedule that well. We managed to find our way back to village area with a big river, where we saw some local residents splashing their feet in the water. They waved at us, and we took the opportunity to head down to the river to join them. Plus, my feet were sore so they needed the foot bath anyway xD We walked down and said hello, and they ended up laughing at us because they didn't expect us to speak Japanese. It was kinda awkward, but it was nice to put our feet in the water on such a hot day. That's when the rain started coming down.

Before leaving the river we ran into this old lady who was looking down at the ground. We whispered upon ourselves, wondering what she was looking at and she actually heard us! As a result she showed us a handful of four leave clovers that she had found and I said something along the lines of being impressed. As a result, she gave us all the four leaf clovers without even questioning it. I tried convincing her that it was okay and that we didn't need them, but she insisted on giving them to us.

This day was truly one of the more memorable ones. Not only were we able to discover parts of Kanazawa that we didn't know of, but we interacted with various Kanazawa locals who showed us their deep sense of respect and gratitude.