Second day in Kanazawa. Weather wise it was the same as the first day. In other words, we had all kinds of weather. Changing every 5 minutes or so. Snow storm. Hale. Thunder storm. Sun. Rain. Chie was quite busy with the umbrella.

First stop was the Iwamoto Kiyoshi Shoten. A small shop selling wooden artwork. We bought a few wooden plates to give away to friends and for ourselves. The shop owner asked if we wanted to see the factory. “Yes” we said. And he told us the directions to it.

5 minutes later we were in front of a small house. The factory. A woman had just gone out of the house, but she had pointed us to the house. Just as we arrived a young guy came out and when he understood we were visiting the factory he let us in… And went out again.

Chie and I were alone. In some strangers home where they also had a factory. In the “waiting room” there were some old things looking quite expensive and some money on a table. After 5 minutes the guy from the shop turned up and showed us his factory. With machinery from, well, early European industrialization (?).

Satisfied by the factory visit we continued our Kanazawa tour to a golden shop. Everything they sold had some gold in it. They also had a showroom factory where they made gold leaf (0.1-0.2 micrometer thick) which they used to make everything golden.

Next stop was the Higashi Chaya district, or east tea shop district. It was here that quite wealthy people came and enjoyed the company of Geisha.

We entered a 130 year old chaya called Shima. And I tried the tea but not the Geisha 😉

We continued by bus to the Kenroku-en garden. A beautiful garden that now was covered in snow. And artful arrangement to protect the trees during the winter time.

Kenroku-en was also where the first Japanese fountain was made, about 3 meters high. Still there today.

When we finally got out of the Kenroku-en we were tired. It had been a long day with many activities. We took the bus back towards the hotel and the place we had planned to have a dinner at. Ozeki, a nice oden restaurant with many local people.

We had many different dishes and started to talk with the neighbors, a Japanese couple from Kanazawa. They told us that “grandpa”, the owner’s father celebrated his 103rd birthday today. And that he everyday came to the restaurant and sat at one of the entrances and “worked”. Chie and I went to him and wished him a “Happy Birthday”.

We continued to talk with the neighboring couple for the rest of the evening. And once they found out I practiced tea ceremony once a month they wanted to give away their tea ceremony things.

We joined them in a taxi and went home to their place. A newly built house just the size for two retired people. They showed us an old incense box made of china about 300 years old. Blue and beautiful. And they showed a short samurai sword from the Edo era. And they said “Sorry” because they didn’t want to give either of them away 😀

But they continued to argue that I should have their tea ceremony things. Because the wife did not use it anymore and they were just going to throw it away. Eventually I gave in and we left around 11 pm in a taxi full with all kinds of tea ceremony things (eventually I will put some pictures on the blog showing them all, but not now).

With or without all the giving… Chie and I had a fun time.