Kanazawa Castle Park
金沢城公園
Seat of the Maeda, lords of Edo Japan's largest domain; its 1788 Ishikawa gate still faces Kenroku-en across a short bridge
About Kanazawa Castle Park
Kanazawa Castle was the seat of the Maeda, whose domain of about a million koku across Kaga, Noto and Etchu was the largest in Edo Japan. The keep burned in 1602 and was never rebuilt, and in 1881 a fire in the army's quarters took the palace and nearly every turret. Three Edo buildings survive. The best known, the 1788 Ishikawa gate, is the rear gate on the Kenroku-en side, so the easiest way in is straight from the garden. Since 2001 the prefecture has been rebuilding in timber with traditional methods: the Hishi turret and the long Gojikken storehouse beside it can be toured for ¥320, and three gates and the Gyokusen-inmaru garden, laid out against the castle's stone walls, have followed. The park itself is free.
Essential Tips
Expect fenced-off stretches: the January 2024 Noto earthquake brought down stone walls in five places in the park, including the causeway wall in front of the Ishikawa gate, and deformed 23 more. Repairs are still going on
The three buildings that survive from the Edo period, the Ishikawa gate and the Sanjukken and Tsurumaru storehouses, open inside only on set days, free. In 2026 that means weekends and holidays from April to November, plus every day in August, October and November for the gate and the Sanjukken. The stairs are steep, and volunteer guides are posted inside
The 100 Castles stamp (no. 35) is at the Ishikawa gate information centre during park hours and inside the Gojikken storehouse from 9 AM to 4 PM. The storehouse also sells gojoin castle seals without a ticket: ¥300, or ¥500 for the palace design added in April 2026
Free English-speaking volunteer guides wait at the Ishikawa gate rest house most days, 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM, except over New Year; no booking needed
The Ninomaru palace, where the lords lived and governed, is being rebuilt under a temporary roof in the middle of the park; the first phase, the entrance hall and reception rooms, is due around fiscal 2033
Mamezara Chaya in the Tsurunomaru rest house (11 AM to 4 PM) serves Ishikawa sweets and small dishes, and the rest house's big windows look straight at the Hishi turret
Coin lockers (¥300 and ¥400) are at the Ishikawa gate rest house
Drones are banned in the park
Don't Miss
Ishikawa Gate (Ishikawa-mon)
Rebuilt in 1788, nearly 30 years after the great fire of 1759, the gate is a masugata: past the outer gate you are boxed into a walled square, overlooked by the turret gate and a two-storey corner turret, and attackers caught there could be shot at from three sides. Osaka Castle's Otemon is the only other castle gate in Japan whose whole square of buildings survives from the Edo period. Inside the square, the wall facing you is cut stone fitted without gaps, while the one on your left is roughly dressed and marked with large mason's carvings. Rain has weathered the lead-clad roof tiles to a silvery white.
Hishi Turret and the Gojikken Storehouse
These were the first buildings the prefecture put back, in 2001, 120 years after the army fire. The three-storey Hishi turret was the tallest building in the late Edo castle and kept watch over the main gate, the Kahoku gate and the Ishikawa gate. Hishi means diamond: the turret stands on a rhombus of 80 and 100 degrees, and inside you can see that even the pillars are cut to the angle. The two-storey Gojikken storehouse, a store in peacetime and a fighting wall in war, with stone-drop bays over the moat, links it to the Hashizume gate turret, and one ticket covers the whole run.
Gyokusen-inmaru Garden
The lords' private garden, begun in 1634 by the third lord, Toshitsune, and recreated in 2015 from excavations and Edo plans. It fills a hollow on the castle's west side, 22 m from the pond bed to the top of the surrounding walls, and the walls are part of the design. The Shikishi-tanzaku wall, set with square and tall oblong stones in staggered rows, with a waterfall built into its top, is found at no other castle. The enclosure is named after Gyokusen-in, the Buddhist name of Oda Nobunaga's daughter Eihime, wife of the second lord, who spent her last years here. Gyokusen-an, the rest house overlooking the pond, serves matcha with a sweet made for the house for ¥1,000.
What to Do Here
From Kenroku-en into the Castle
Leave Kenroku-en by the Katsurazaka entrance and cross the bridge to the Ishikawa gate. Beyond it the Sannomaru lawn opens out below the Gojikken storehouse; go through the Hashizume gate, the most formal in the castle and the last before the palace, to reach the turrets' ticket desk. From the Ninomaru square, head west down the steep Imori-zaka to the Gyokusen-inmaru garden, and leave by the Nezumita gate, whose wood-clad bridge crosses to Oyama Shrine and the Korinbo shopping streets.
Tips:
- The rebuilt Kahoku gate, the castle's working main gate, is free to go up inside
- Official online tickets are sold for both the turrets and Kenroku-en
- In the Tsurunomaru rest house, a free 10-minute VR film with English subtitles shows the lost palace, with its wall paintings and gilt metal fittings
Stone-Wall Walk
The castle is called a museum of stone walls, because walls from every period survive, built of red and blue Tomuro stone from a mountain about 10 km away. Start with the oldest, the rough natural stones of the Higashi-no-maru north wall, stacked in the time of Toshiie and his son Toshinaga. Under the Sanjukken storehouse the stones are cut square but left rough in the middle, with only their edges dressed, and a few hexagons are set into the west face. A single hexagonal stone in the Tsuchihashi gate wall stands for a turtle, a charm against fire, and the Otemon, the main gate, is built of the biggest stones in the castle. Finish at the Shikishi-tanzaku wall in the Gyokusen-inmaru garden.
Tips:
- Since July 19, 2025 you can walk through the Imori-bori yard, where stones from the walls that fell in 2024 are washed, measured and stored so each can go back in its old place; the route looks onto the Honmaru south wall under repair
- The garden also has a four-step waterfall, dropping about 7 m, rebuilt over the one found in the excavation
- The army left its own mark: a brick tunnel cut through the Honmaru's north wall to reach the powder magazine it kept on the Honmaru
Saturday Night Opening
On Saturday evenings the park stays open after dark, free, with the turrets, the gates and the Gyokusen-inmaru garden lit. In 2026 it also opens on October 11 and November 15, every evening from November 22 to 29, and from December 29 to January 1.
Tips:
- Only the Ishikawa gate, Gyokusen-inmaru and Nezumita entrances are open after dark, and last entry is 8:45 PM
- The outer walls, the Ishikawa gate and the Nezumita gate and bridge are lit every evening until 10 PM, so you can see them from outside on any night
- In cherry blossom week the park stays open until 9:30 PM for the lit trees, and the Kuromon and Otemon entrances open too (April 2-8 in 2026)
Plan Your Visit
Opening Hours
park
7:00 AM – 6:00 PM (March 1 – October 15), 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM (October 16 – end of February), every day. The gates open earlier for walkers: from 4:00 AM (April – August), 5:00 AM (March, September, October) and 6:00 AM (November – February)
turrets
Hishi turret, Gojikken storehouse and Hashizume gate: 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM (last entry 4:00 PM), every day. The Kahoku and Nezumita gates open inside on the same hours, free
original Buildings
Ishikawa gate, Sanjukken and Tsurumaru storehouse interiors: 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM, on special opening days only
night Opening
Saturdays and some holidays, sunset – 9:00 PM (last entry 8:45 PM), free
Best Time to Visit
Mornings, straight on from Kenroku-en: the park is open from dawn and the turrets from 9 AM. In early April the cherry trees are lit in the evening; in autumn the Gyokusen-inmaru garden turns red, and in winter its pines go under snow ropes.
Avoid:
Cherry blossom week in early April and Golden Week (late April to early May)
Nearby
Kenroku-en Garden
The castle's outer garden and one of Japan's three great gardens, over the bridge from the Ishikawa gate; ¥320, free for over-65s.
150 m
Oyama Shrine
Shrine to Maeda Toshiie across the Nezumita bridge; the coloured glass in its 1875 gate was once lit as a beacon for ships.
120 m
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
SANAA's round glass museum of contemporary art, opened in 2004, 6 minutes south of the Gyokusen-inmaru entrance.
500 m
Omicho Market
Kanazawa's seafood and produce market, 10 minutes north-west of the Kuromon entrance.
700 m
Gallery
The 1788 Ishikawa gate and the Hishi turret, rebuilt in wood in 2001
The Ishikawa gate, an Important Cultural Property since 1950, last restored in 2013
Cherry blossom in the castle park; in Kanazawa full bloom falls on April 8 in an average year
History
founding
The site began as the Kanazawa Gobo, a Honganji temple founded, by tradition, in 1546, which became the centre of the sect's followers in Hokuriku. Oda Nobunaga's army took it in 1580, and Sakuma Morimasa became the first lord of a castle here. When Sakuma lost at Shizugatake in 1583, Hideyoshi gave two districts of Kaga to Maeda Toshiie, who moved in from Nanao and began building in earnest, with a keep around 1586 and high stone walls round the Honmaru in 1592. Lightning burned the keep in 1602, and a three-storey turret went up in its place. After the great fire of 1631 the third lord, Toshitsune, moved the heart of the castle down to the Ninomaru and built the palace there.
significance
For all the size of their domain, the Maeda never raised another keep; the prefecture's historians put that down to deference towards the shogunate from a family outside the Tokugawa's inner circle. The fifth lord, Tsunanori, who ruled for 78 years, collected and catalogued craft samples in the Hyakko Hisho. In 1869 the fourteenth lord left the castle, and once the domains were abolished in 1871 the army moved in. Its 1881 fire left only the Ishikawa gate and two storehouses, the Sanjukken of 1858 and the Tsurumaru of 1848. After the war Kanazawa University opened in the grounds and used the Honmaru woods as its science faculty's botanical garden; it had moved out by 1995, the prefecture bought the site in 1996, and the park opened in 2001. The castle became a national Historic Site in 2008.
reconstruction
After the turrets of 2001 came the Kahoku gate in 2010, the second Hashizume gate and the Gyokusen-inmaru garden in 2015, and the Nezumita gate in 2020; its bridge is steel clad in wood to meet modern safety rules. Each was worked out from Meiji photographs, Edo plans and excavation, and all are set in the late Edo period so they match the buildings that survived. Work on the Ninomaru palace began in 2025.
name Origin
Kanazawa is written with the characters for gold and marsh. The legend is that a man called Imohori Togoro, Togoro the potato digger, washed his potatoes at a spring and found gold dust left behind, so the spot became Kanearai-no-sawa, the marsh where gold was washed, and the name passed to the town. The spring, now Kinjo Reitaku, is still there beside Kanazawa Shrine at the edge of Kenroku-en, 10 minutes' walk from the Ishikawa gate.
Getting There
Loop Bus from Kanazawa Station
Station: Kanazawa Station, east (Kenrokuen) exit, stop 7
Exit: Get off at Kenrokuen-shita/Kanazawa-jo, opposite the Ishikawa gate
Walk: About 5 minutes up to the Ishikawa gate
Take the right route: it runs every 15 minutes from 8:30 AM to 6 PM and reaches the stop in 18 minutes by way of Higashi Chaya. The left route (every 20 minutes) takes 27 minutes and stops across the junction by Shiratori-ro. Other Hokutetsu buses from the east exit reach the same stop in about 12 minutes. The day pass also covers city buses in central Kanazawa, but it is not sold on board: buy it at a Hokutetsu ticket counter, at some hotels or as a digital ticket.
On foot from Kanazawa Station
Station: Kanazawa Station, east (Kenrokuen) exit
Walk: About 25 minutes (1.8 km) to the Kuromon entrance
The Kuromon entrance on the north-west side is the closest to the station, and the route passes Omicho Market. The Ishikawa gate is 2.4 km from the station, a good half hour's walk.
Taxi or Car
Station: Kanazawa Station taxi rank
About 10 minutes by taxi from the station; ask for Ishikawa-mon, the gate facing Kenroku-en. Driving, use the Kenroku car park, open 24 hours: ¥350 for the first hour, then ¥150 per 30 minutes.
Location
1-1 Marunouchi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0937
Nearest: Kanazawa Station (Hokuriku Shinkansen) (About 25 minutes (1.8 km) on foot to the Kuromon entrance, or 18 minutes by the Loop Bus to the Ishikawa gate side)
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