Trip to Kanazawa #01: Chaya District
Tuesday 23 June 2009
Kanazawa is an old city full of history and culture, it's much much smaller but some parts of Kanazawa reminds me of Kyoto. Kanazawa has three well preserved Chaya districts, "Chaya" literally means "teahouse" but is actually something like an exclusive type of restaurant where geisha entertains the guests with dance and songs. These pictures are from Higashi Chaya District, the biggest chaya-gai out of three. I just loved walking around the narrow backstreets there. All the buildings you see around here are so beautiful and very well preserved, some of them are nearly 200 years old.Most of the chayas are run by the "ichigensan okotowari" system, this means unless you are referred by someone who is already a customer there, you can't enter the chaya. But there are a few chayas that are open to tourists to have a look inside during the daytime so people can learn about the secret chaya culture. The one I went into was called "Kaikaro" and the each room was very beautifully decorated and was really interesting to see. Guided tour must be booked in advance so I only helped myself looking around taking photos with not much information, but I would've loved to take a tour to learn about this not-so-known unique culture of chaya.
I'm just adding this map from kanazawa-tourism.com so you get the idea of where Kanazawa is. It's one hour flight from Tokyo.
wow, these are very beautiful. what kind of camera are you using? the colours of your photos convey the silence so well.
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting to see such old wooden buildings.
ReplyDeleteyes, i agree the sombre colours are very beautiful
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Thanks for the inspiring photos.
ReplyDeletelovely, lovely photos of the interiors! i agree with chrrristine - lovely capture and hue!~
ReplyDeletei really like kanazawa - it is beautifully preserved and shows its unique heritage beautifully:) thankyou!
wow , is your camera digital? those are amazing colors! what kind of camera is it? Beautiful shots!
ReplyDeleteit looks very historic and rich in spirit!
ReplyDeleteOh these photo's are so lovely and full of atmosphere! I really adore Japanese building, especially the way they are piling up cube-like units, closed by sliding doors. My dreamhouse is definitely a Japanese one. Thanks for sharing:)
ReplyDeletethank you everyone for lovely comments, I went to this area early in the morning so it was all so quiet and beautiful, just right for taking pictures but later in the day it got busy so that was good. I think it would look more beautiful at the sun set time, also at night time!!
ReplyDeletechrrristine & Anonymous - These are taken with film. I use Fuji compact camera and ISO 1600 film also from Fujifilm.
Stunning images, stunning blog!
ReplyDeletethat's beautiful! i love the wooden architecture... it seems sooo quiet!
ReplyDelete