Things to Do in Kanazawa, Japan: Walking Guide

Kanazawa is a historic city in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, known for its castle heritage, traditional gardens, museums and long connection with craftsmanship. The city is rewarding to explore on foot, with important cultural sites gathered around Kanazawa Castle, Kenrokuen Garden and the historic districts. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Kanazawa with 30 narrated places, available in 11 languages.

If you are planning a trip through Japan, Kanazawa offers a quieter way to discover the country’s history and culture. Its museums range from gold leaf and traditional crafts to phonographs, local families and the artistic world of Yumeji Takehisa.

What to See in Kanazawa

Saigawa Bridge

Saigawa Bridge, also known as Saigawa-ohashi Bridge, carries the road across the middle reaches of the Saigawa River. It provides a point of connection between the city’s streets and the river landscape.

Kanazawa Phonograph Museum

The Kanazawa Phonograph Museum is devoted to the phonograph and its development as a sound-recording device. Its focused collection offers a different perspective on the history of recorded sound.

Kanazawa Castle

Kanazawa Castle stands within Kanazawa Castle Park, in the Marunouchi area. The castle site was the headquarters and residence of the Maeda clan, rulers of Kaga Domain, for fourteen generations from the Sengoku period until the Meiji Restoration in 1871.

The castle is a hirayamajō, or castle built on elevated ground, and its grounds are now designated as a national historic site. The complex has been partially restored, while the surrounding park preserves the setting of the historic castle. Kanazawa Castle is closely connected with Kenroku-en Garden, which once served as the castle’s private outer garden.

Kanazawa Shrine

Beside Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa Shrine offers a quieter encounter with the city’s religious history. Known as Kanazawa Jinja in Japanese, the Shinto shrine is dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane.

It belongs to a group of shrines that became popular from the late Edo period into the early Meiji period. These shrines were established to enshrine the founders of feudal domains.

Maeda Tosanokami-ke Shiryokan Museum

In the Katamachi district, the Maeda Tosanokami-ke Shiryokan Museum presents materials from a branch of the Maeda family. The family traces its origins to Maeda Toshimasa, the second son of Maeda Toshiie.

The collection contains around nine thousand historical materials, designated cultural properties of Ishikawa Prefecture. The museum opened on April 27, 2002, and presents four special exhibitions each year alongside its regular displays.

Fourth High School Memorial Museum of Cultural Exchange, Ishikawa

The Fourth High School Memorial Museum of Cultural Exchange, Ishikawa, is a cultural facility in Kanazawa. Its Japanese name is Shiko Kinen Bunka Koryukan, and it forms part of the city’s museum quarter.

Gyokusen-en

Gyokusen-en is a traditional Japanese pond-and-strolling garden shaped over generations. Paths wind around the water, passing planted scenery and historic tea houses. The garden is also known for mizubashō, or Asian skunk cabbage, growing naturally in an urban setting.

Its history began in the early Edo period, when Kaga retainer Wakita Naokata started creating the garden at the Wakita residence. Four generations of the family continued the work for about a century. The name refers to Gyokusen-in, the wife of Maeda Toshinaga.

Look for Saisetsu-tei, regarded as Kanazawa’s oldest tea house. Gyokusen-en also contains a tea house modeled on Urasenke’s Kangun-tei, giving the garden an intimate tea-garden atmosphere.

National Crafts Museum

The National Crafts Museum explores Japanese crafts in two Western-style buildings from the Meiji period. One was the former Ninth Division Command Headquarters, dating from 1898; the other was the former Army Generals Club, built in 1909.

Both buildings were relocated from elsewhere in Kanazawa, reassembled and restored for their current use. The museum first opened in Tokyo in 1977 and moved to Kanazawa in 2020 as part of a government policy of regional revitalization.

Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum

In Higashiyama, the Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum focuses on the history and craft of gold leaf. It offers a closer look at one of the distinctive themes of Kanazawa’s cultural heritage.

Nishi Chaya Shiryokan Museum

The Nishi Chaya Shiryokan Museum is located in the Nishi Chaya district. This Kanazawa municipal facility serves as a historical museum, archive and cultural center for the neighborhood.

Kanazawa Nakamura Memorial Museum

The Kanazawa Nakamura Memorial Museum, also known as Kanazawa Municipal Nakamura Memorial Museum, is an art museum in Kanazawa. It adds another perspective to the city’s broad cultural offering.

Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan Museum

In Yuwaku Hot Spring, the Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan Museum is dedicated to the artist and poet Yumeji Takehisa. It brings together his artwork, biographical materials and objects connected with his life.

The museum’s connection with Yuwaku comes from Takehisa’s stay there from September 24 to October 16, 1917, at Yamashita Ryokan, now known as Oyado Yamashita. The two-story museum contains a permanent exhibition room, a mini theater and space for special exhibitions.

Kanazawa Yuwaku Edomura

Kanazawa Yuwaku Edomura is a historical museum in the Yuwaku Onsen area. Its setting brings together buildings from the Edo period, relocated to preserve their architecture and deepen understanding of the period’s history and culture.

The museum was established by Kanazawa City and opened in September 2010.

Zeniya Gohei Memorial Museum

This museum tells the story of Zeniya Gohei, a wealthy merchant whose fortune came from the Kitamaebune shipping trade. He became known as the “Million-Koku of the Sea.”

The exhibitions explore his life and career, while Zeni-Go no Yakata presents part of Zeniya’s main residence after its relocation to the museum. Together, the displays connect the merchant’s maritime story with a physical part of his former home.

Ishikawa Prefecture Kanazawa Port Ohno Karakuri Memorial Museum

The Ishikawa Prefecture Kanazawa Port Ohno Karakuri Memorial Museum, also called the Ohno Karakuri Museum, is located in Ohno-machi. It is one of the museums included in Kanazawa’s wider cultural landscape.

A Self-Guided Way to Explore Kanazawa

Kanazawa’s museums and historic sites are spread across different parts of the city, making it useful to explore them as a connected route rather than as isolated attractions. A walk can combine Kanazawa Castle, Gyokusen-en, Kanazawa Shrine and the Museum Quarter, while the bus route provides another way to move between cultural stops.

For travellers comparing a Kanazawa self-guided walking tour, the Neywo route is designed to be followed independently. There is no group to join and no fixed schedule: the narration plays as you reach each place, at your own pace.

Explore Kanazawa with Neywo

Download Neywo and discover Kanazawa with its free audio guide. The city has one walking tour and one bus route:

• Samurai Capital: Kanazawa Castle, Gyokusen-en and the Museum Quarter: a 3.54 km walk lasting 116 minutes, with 10 narrated stops.
• Kikugawa Flat Bus: Museum Quarter Loop: a 2 km bus route lasting 9 minutes, with 4 narrated stops.

The walking tour includes the Maeda Tosanokami-ke Shiryokan Museum, Fourth High School Memorial Museum of Cultural Exchange, Ishikawa, Kanazawa Castle, Gyokusen-en, Kanazawa Shrine, the National Crafts Museum, Kaga-Honda Museum, Ishikawa Prefectural Noh Theater, D. T. Suzuki Museum and 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. The bus route includes Ishikawa Prefectural Noh Theater, Kanazawa Theatre, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art and Maeda Tosanokami-ke Shiryokan Museum.

Neywo tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule.