Chapter 55: CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Reads: 282
Comments: 1

PART XX

KANAZAWA AND BEYOND

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

The next morning after eating the usual Japanese breakfast of miso soup and grilled fish, I asked the Okusan of the minshuku for directions to Kenrokuen garden and learned it was much far too far to walk to.

"Well little buddy, I'm afraid we're going to have to do some city driving again, much as I hate it. And probably from there to Kanazawa castle, too."

Beeep!

I got lost several times on the way and had to ask several people for directions. But they all seemed to know the way to Kenrokuen and were happy to help me.

Finally I got us there and parked my cub in its parking lot already crammed with tour buses. "Well little buddy, it looks like other tourists know about Kenrokuen, too. It must really be a famous garden."

Beeep!

I paid the nominal entrance fee and went through the entrance. I had to admit just looking at it for the first time, it was definitely an impressive Japanese style garden. And huge.

I started walking along one of the many landscaped paths through it, not particularly caring where I was going. I saw a large stone lantern along one of the several ponds my guidebook had said were in the garden.

As I kept walking I came upon a tour group huddled around a much smaller pond, tour guide armed with bullhorn blasting away at them. I was going to slip around them when I saw there was a geyser-like fountain thrusting up a tall spray of water in middle of the pond.

Being still close enough to the guide to hear her explanation, I learned the fountain was caused by this pond being much lower than the much larger pond where the stone lantern was and the pressure built up by the groundwater flowing down from the big pond to the much smaller pond thrusting the water up to form a natural geyser.

And to think someone or some people had planned and landscaped these ponds and garden centuries ago to do precisely that!

Kenrokuen was so large, I just kept strolling around it on the many paths enjoying the incredibly beautiful landscaping. And found myself right back at the bigger pond with a tea house jutting out on pillars into the pond. There was a sign in Japanese that explained the tea house, Uhashichi-tei, had been built elsewhere and then moved to the pond in the late 1800s. My guidebook had told me that the the garden itself was begun in the 1700s. So Kenrokuen seemed to be a work in progress. Is it still a work in progress now?

After strolling through the garden for more than an hour, I felt I had seen enough. Beautiful yes, but not worth spending a full day in.

"Excuse me, Miss, can you tell me how far it is from here to Kanazawa Castle?"

The teller at the ticket window looked up at me. "Are you planning on going there? It's closed to the public, you know. Ever since it burned down again."

"During the war?"

"Oh no. Long before the war. You can easily walk there in less than ten minutes. The outer wall and main gate are still standing. But the only people allowed in are the students and faculty members of Kanazawa National University. The army built barracks there during the the war and now are being used by the university for classrooms until they can get their own campus completed."

"Umm, which way do I go?"

She pointed and I started walking, thinking that teller would make a great tour guide if she wanted to be one. It was only a little before eleven in the morning and I couldn't think of much else to do anyway.

The walk to the castle was a fairly wide open grass field with almost no tourists. The castle itself was easy to spot because the thick outer walls around it were still intact. When I got to the tall main gate, I saw a guard there checking the identity cards of the students entering what I assumed was now the entrance to Kanazawa University inside the old castle walls. No public access apparently, as the teller had told me. But the students reminded me of the students at my junior college, smiling and laughing and young. Except more than half of these students were boys.

After circling around the whole castle outer wall, I went back to my cub and the entrance to Kenrokuen. It was still only a little after twelve.

Now what the hell am I'm going to do?

"Excuse me again, Miss," I asked the same ticket teller, "but can you tell me where else I can go here in Kanazawa? I've already seen Kenrokuen and walked around the whole castle on the outside."

"Well, have you been to Higashi Chaya district? It's the Gion of Kanazawa."

I remembered from reading my guidebook something about there being an old district here in Kanazawa that still had geisha houses. I asked the teller for directions and learned it was much too far to walk to this time. I thanked her again and wanted to give her a tip for all her help. But knew that tipping here in Japan is something you just don't do. To anyone. For any reason.

Again the frustrating getting lost and having to ask directions several times.

At last I found myself approaching a very feudal-period looking district with streets so narrow only pedestrians were allowed in. I parked my cub just outside the pedestrian area and started walking along the old buildings of apparently Edo Period style. Wooden row houses. Each two-story house directly attached to the house on either side of it. I saw a few geisha-apprentice maiko in full kimono costume with thick whiteface and bright red lip makeup. And with lavish hairstyles decorated with all sorts of ornate combs stuck in their hair and, hands over mouths, giggling with each other. Yeah, this was much like Kyoto's Gion, all right.

With all the tourists, too. A few were wearing rented kimono and having a hell of a hard time walking in them.

Most of the houses had been converted into tea houses -- some even advertising geisha performances -- and souvenir shops. But one house said it was a museum of an ancient geisha house of the Edo Period. I paid the small entrance fee and found it well worth the money to view where the geisha slept, where they performed, the instruments they played, etc. I also read an explanation that Kanazawa was the only city besides Kyoto that still had real geisha and the younger apprentice maiko.

I walked through the whole Higashi Chaya district. It seemed to be, if anything, larger than Kyoto's Gion.

By the time I left it was almost four o'clock. Now I decided I could go back to the minshuku. I really had trouble finding it. Thank God I had been smart enough to ask for the business card for it from the Okusan before I left that morning. So when I asked people for directions, they could read it and at least point the way they thought it should be.

After I got to the minshuku and soaked in their ofuro for a while, I told the Okusan I'd be staying sudomari that night and could she please tell me of a restaurant within walking distance that served typical Kanazawa specialties.

"Oh, the best food here in Kanazawa is sushi from the Nihonkai Sea of Japan. It's very fresh and many kinds can't be shipped to other parts of Japan because they spoil. I have my favorite sushi shop near here. But I think it would be better if you just walk along that main street near us and see what kind of sushi shop looks best for you. There's the conveyor type of sushi shops that are cheaper than the regular type sushi shops. But they also tend to be more crowded."

"Any type of fish you would recommend?"

"Well, there are several types of ebi shrimp and nodoguro whitefish that are very popular. But since this is your first time, I would recommend ordering the Nihonkai moriawase that's a collection of all of them."

I walked along that nearby main street and saw there were plenty of sushi shops here all right. And coffee shops advertising morning service where I could eat breakfast tomorrow.

I looked at a few of the conveyor type sushi shops. But just like in Kyoto where I sometimes ate a sushi snack at, they were crowded. And I knew I could only take the sushi on the plates that were passing by me on the conveyor and not be able to order the kind I wanted. I also saw some traditional type of sushi shops with a wide counter and a long, narrow refrigerated glass, something or other, that held all kinds of fish between the counter and the itamae sushi chefs.

I decided I'd eat at a traditional type one that appeared to be the nicest with nice chairs and not too many people seated in them at its wide counter.

"Ah, do you have a moriawase combination of Nihonkai fish?" I asked the itamae. "With, uh, let's see, lots of ebi and nodoguro?"

The itamae smiled at me. "Yes, we have that kind of moriawase. But do you want it piece by piece or all at once?"

"Um, all at once, I guess."

"That's ten pieces. It'll take a while."

"That's OK."

It came about ten minutes later. The itamae slapped a large wooden platter with ten slices of fish down on the counter in front of me with his "Omachido!" shortened version of 'I've kept you waiting' that all Japanese chefs and servers say when serving a meal.

I looked at it. Like food in all restaurants in Japan, it looked quite pleasing to the eye. But how does it taste?

I took a bit of a slice of what looked like a whitefish. Wow! It's really sweet and tasty! Is this the nodoguro the minshuku Okusan had recommended? Well who cares? And there's still another slice I can save till later!

I looked at the other slices. There were three different kinds of ebi shrimp. One still had its dark brown shell on it.

What the . . . ? The itamae hasn't bothered to take the shell off it? But then he must certainly know what he's doing.

I took a bite of it. My God! Shell and all it's really tender and sweet!

I ate the rest of my sushi trusting the itamae knew what he was doing. And glad I did. Everything was delicious. All with a sweetness I hadn't tasted in any of the sushi I'd eaten in Kyoto.

I finished the whole meal quickly, enjoying every single one of the slices. Man, this is really worth the rather high price I'm paying for it!

Yet, when I'd finished, I didn't feel the pleasantly stuffed feeling that I had after eating a suzuki in Shikoku. Delicious, yes. But not really making a full meal.

On my way back to the minshuku, I decided I've seen and tasted enough of what Kanazawa has to offer and found it, on the whole, to be somewhat disappointing. And just too damn big! I'm going on to Wajima tomorrow instead of the day after tomorrow.

I told the minshuku Okusan as soon as I got back that I would be leaving tomorrow. She just nodded, apparently used to having some guests shorten their stay with her.

I studied my road atlas for the way to Wajima and prayed it would be better than Kanazawa. At least it would be far smaller to walk around in.

Submitted: September 17, 2024

Romance romance japan gaijin travel-in-japan japan-1970s

Like
Shelfit

Chapters

T
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64

Add Your Comments:

Sign in to write a comment

Comments

B Douglas Slack

Sounds as if our intrepid traveler had a quite busy day. I'm sure the evening meal was great as it sounded.

My wife and I stayed at a small inn once that had a sushi parlor next to it. We ordered the special that consisted of twelve pieces ranging from very light whitefish) to very dark (tuna). It tasted wonderful, especially downed with two flasks of local sake.

Bill

Fri, October 11th, 2024 6:13pm