Touristy Things in Kanazawa - Afternoon Session

For something different and only a short distance from the Kenrokuen Gardens is the Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. We decided to go explore. Unfortunately what we didn't realise until we arrived was that the exhibition zone was closed on Mondays...and it was Monday! We saw The Colour House, a permanent outdoor exhibition. Sadly we could only glimpse at the famous Swimming Pool in its own courtyard.

 

Even though the exhibitions were closed, the museum was actually open so we took advantage of the toilets while mulling over what to do next. More walking took us to a mall for a little bit more shopping and a coffee break.

Consensus was to visit Myouryuji or the Ninja-dera Temple. With luck, we made a phone booking for a tour and the temple was only a 20min walk away.

Ninja-dera was constructed in the Edo era, when the Tokugawa Shogunate were in power. Their greatest rival in lands and power was the Maeda Clan who ruled Kanazawa. To keep the Maeda and other clans in check, the Shogunate had strict building regulations limiting the height and number of floors as well as the number of samurai warriors that lords could have.

The Myouryuji defies all such rules. It has mulitple floors, served as a lookout as well as a hiding place for the samurai and their lords. From the outside it appeared as a large temple. This inauspicious building hides a covert fortress with traps, secret rooms, a labyrinth of passageways and lookout.

The tour is conduced only in Japanese (although we were given an English translation book) was super interesting. We got to see the pit traps - where floorboards were removed so as an intruder walk over these areas, they fall into a deep pit. The light stairs in which the rise board were replaced by thin paper. The guards would hide under the stairs, see the footsteps of the intruders and then potentially stab them with spears. Walls that moved to reveal hidden or escape passageways or secret rooms including a seppuku (ritual suicide chamber). 

We left the Myouryuji pleased that we had accidentally included this in todays activities. We learnt that the Myouryuji Temple has nothing to do with ninjas but earnt its name by the association with secrecy! No photography was allowed although it was so dark in there I'm sure many of the photos wouldn't turn out. 

Outside the rain had arrived and it was pouring! Thank goodness for our umbrellas! The rain didn't deter our last stop of the day - ice cream -  a gold leaf ice cream of course!!