Kanazawa City (Mystery tour part 3)

Next stop on the mystery tour is Kanazawa City! (Ishikawa Prefecture)

We stayed at the Kanazawa Tokyu Hotel; it's a very nice business hotel.

Early the next morning the view from our room

After breakfast we check out and we're ready to spend the day sihtseeing in Kanazawa city.

Our first stop is the Oyama-jinja Shrine.

Let's go in.

The Chinese & Western influenced main gate is a Kanazawa symbol.

Emi and our tour guide.

Yes, it's me.

And, of course we have to have a picture of us together.

Emi posing by the make-a-wish (make a prayer) boards. 

Per the internet: Oyama-jinja is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Maeda Toshiie (1537–1599), the founder of the Kaga domain (present-day Ishikawa and around), and his wife, Maeda Matsu (1547–1617). It was built in 1873, shortly after the abolition of laws that prevented shrines from being dedicated to people other than the shogun.

The shrine’s three-storied shinmon gate, completed in 1875, served as a symbol of Kanazawa’s vibrancy and importance even after the end of the system of domains in 1871. The gate’s unique design blends Japanese and Chinese architectural styles with Western touches such as stained glass.

I've switched to black & white to add to the artistic impression of the pictures 😎

It started raining and we're hiding under the main gate waiting for the rain to stop.

Passing by the Samurai gift shop on our way back to the tour bus.

Next up is a visit to Kanazawa's old town. 

Crossing the street to get to the old town.

Kanazawa's Old Town, particularly the Higashi Chaya District, is known for its preserved Edo-era architecture, including geisha houses and traditional tea houses. It's a picturesque area showcasing a glimpse into Japan's cultural past. The district is also a hub for craftspeople, artists, and cafes. 

It's still raining but nobody cares. 

Walking around the old town in the rain seems to add to the charm of this place.

That's Emi in the center of the picture.

I want to come back to Kanazawa city again!

Another tour group heading our way. 

There's a river here with traditional style bridges and promenades.

Next up is the Omicho covered market.

Our tour guide is giving us instructions. Basically she told us "you're on your own" "be back on the bus by 2:00 pm" "lunch is on yourself, now go!".

So, off we went wandering around the covered market.

Two things:

1) this place is huge.

2) there are a lot of people here

By-the-way, did you notice that I switched from B&W back to color pictures?

This place is full of shops and restaurants. There's even a second floor.

There's lots of people but nobody is pushy. There's plenty of room for everyone. 

A view from the second floor.

You can buy fresh food from the market and eat it there too!

The last shot before we go back to the bus. These girls are checking out a shop that serves beef sushi! It look good to me!

Can you believe it? There is a part 4 coming next!

Thanks for stopping by,

Mike

More of the Mystery Tour

 Time for lunch!

Our next stop was at a soba factory that also had a restaurant and a gift shop.

We had to take a tour of the soba factory before we could eat. Lucky for us the tour only took a few minutes and then we were lead into the restaurant for our lunch was already on the table. 

Not only does the food look good, it tastes good too!

After lunch we got back in the bus and drove out to the countryside to visit a knife factory. This building is the for displaying and selling finished knives and other related products.

This building is the small factory for making the knives. 

The factory is set up so that people can observe the knife making process without being in the way of the workers and the equipment.

Forging, grinding and polishing... it looks like hard work to me.

Big grinding wheels; it's very noisy too!

This guy is forging red hot metal into the shape of a knife.

There are display cases showing the different products that they make.

When we went to the main office and sales room building we got to see this knife art!  

Okay, back into the bus and we're off to visit Daishizan Qingdao Temple.

Katsuyama City, Fukui Prefecture

There's a lot of snow here. The temple complex covers a large area and here near the entrance it looks like a hostel or dormitory for visiting followers. 

Go this way.

This place is big! And it's impressive too! We keep moving forward.

A long outdoor covered corridor... we keep moving forward.

That's our destination. There is supposed to be a big Daibutsu (Great Buddha) inside; we shall see.

Yep, there sure is a big Buddha inside.

It's hard to tell by these images how big this place really is.

This Buddha is 17 meters tall.

This room is full of small statues too!

We have plenty of time so I'm just walking around taking pictures of everything.

Well, that was enough time with the Daibutsu. Time to start heading back to the bus.

There are two long outdoor covered corridors to pass through.

Here comes Emi!

For anyone interested in more information on the temple this is their website:

http://etizendaibutsu.com/index.html

Now it's time for dinner! 

No, we didn't eat rabbit for dinner, they're in the petting zoo attached to the restaurant.  We had all-you-can-eat shrimp for dinner.

Cold beer too!

You look at the shrimp and the shrimp looks back at you! What a gourmet delicacy this is!

After dinner we got back in the bus and headed for our first night's hotel in Kanazawa city. That'll be coming in part 3 of this mystery tour. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Mike