Kazuemachi Chaya District Guide: Kanazawa's Lantern-Lit Geisha Quarter by the Asano River

A Quiet Geisha Quarter by the Asano River: Your Guide to the Highlights of Kazuemachi Chaya District

The Asano River runs through central Kanazawa. Along its left bank stands a row of houses with bengara (red-ochre) lattice facades, following the water. This is the Kazuemachi Chaya District.

The best-known of Kanazawa’s chaya districts is the Higashi Chaya District, which is always lively with visitors. Across the Asano River sits Kazuemachi, the smallest and quietest of the three geisha quarters.

This small geisha quarter holds attractions the other two do not. There is the atmosphere of a townscape that presses close to the water, and two slopes linking the district to a shrine. The slopes are also paths once walked by celebrated novelists connected to Kanazawa.

This guide introduces the appeal of the Kazuemachi Chaya District.

Kazuemachi Chaya District

The Kazuemachi Chaya District in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, is one of Kanazawa’s three chaya districts, alongside the Higashi Chaya District and the Nishi Chaya District. Rows of teahouse buildings with bengara lattice line the left bank of the Asano River. It is the smallest of the three chaya districts and known as a geisha quarter where you can enjoy a quiet atmosphere.

Bengara Lattice Houses Reflected in the Asano River

The first highlight of the Kazuemachi Chaya District is the townscape along the Asano River itself.

Between Asanogawa Bridge and Nakanohashi Bridge, two-story teahouse buildings line the left bank along the water. The lattice on the ground floor is bengara-goshi, painted in the red-ochre color known as bengara. Tall upper floors with tatami guest rooms (zashiki) continue along the narrow riverside street. Because the houses stand right beside the water, this area has long been called nagare, meaning the flow.

Of the three chaya districts, only Kazuemachi stands along a river. Walking the geisha-quarter streets to the sound of flowing water is a pleasure unique to this place.

The streets are short, the alleys narrow, and the crowds smaller than in the Higashi Chaya District. On these unhurried streets, you can take in the atmosphere of a Kaga geisha quarter at a slow pace.

Together with the Higashi Chaya District, Kazuemachi was designated a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (in 2008). The teahouse-town landscape that dates from the Edo period is still protected by the whole community.

Kuragari-zaka and Akari-zaka: Two Slopes Walked by Famous Novelists

Kazuemachi has two slopes connecting the riverside street with the town on the higher ground above. Both are closely tied to celebrated novelists connected to Kanazawa.

One is Kuragari-zaka (Dark Slope), a narrow path of stone steps climbing from the Kazuemachi Chaya District up to Kuboichi Otsurugi Shrine on the high ground. Trees and buildings press in from both sides, leaving it dim even during the day, which is how it earned its name.

Izumi Kyoka, a celebrated Meiji-era novelist born in Kanazawa, grew up near this slope. As a child, he is said to have walked it on his way to school. Dropping steeply from the shrine approach down to the chaya district, the slope is also a hidden entrance to Kazuemachi, unseen from the main street.

Right beside Kuragari-zaka is another slope, Akari-zaka (Light Slope).

This slope was once nameless. It was named by Itsuki Hiroyuki, an acclaimed author who set many works in Kanazawa. He called it Akari-zaka in honor of Izumi Kyoka.

The scenery of Kazuemachi along the Asano River appears again and again in the works of Izumi Kyoka and Itsuki Hiroyuki. Walking the two slopes, you can trace the geisha quarter much as these novelists once saw it.

The Town Named for Toda Kazue: The History of a Teahouse District

Why is this area called Kazuemachi, and how has it carried on as a geisha quarter to this day? The answer lies in the history of its name and its teahouse district.

The name Kazuemachi comes from Toda Kazue, a retainer of the Kaga Domain who built his residence here during the Edo period. A person’s name has been passed down as the name of the town itself.

Kazuemachi flourished as a teahouse district from the Meiji era through the prewar Showa years. At its busiest, around the early Showa period, as many as 48 teahouses lined this small area, and the town is said to have been almost entirely teahouses.

A teahouse (chaya) is a guest room where geisha (geigi) entertain visitors with dance, song, and the sound of the shamisen. Kazuemachi still has three teahouses, where the performing-arts tradition continues. By custom, these teahouses serve only guests with a personal introduction, and a first-time visitor without one (ichigen-san) cannot be received. When visiting as a tourist, you enjoy the rows of houses from the street.

The name Kazuemachi once disappeared from the map. In 1970, the area was merged with its surroundings to become Owaricho 2-chome, and the town name was lost. The name was revived in 1999, when Kazuemachi became the first place in Japan to officially restore its old district name.

When the Lanterns Come On: Kazuemachi at Its Most Alluring

The atmosphere of Kazuemachi deepens after the sun goes down.

At dusk, lights come on one by one in the riverside restaurants (ryotei) and teahouses. The glow spilling through the bengara lattice softly lights the stone pavement underfoot and the surface of the Asano River.

As the sun sets, you may glimpse geisha on the riverside path on their way to an evening engagement. Now and then the sound of a shamisen or drum drifts from a guest room into the street, giving the area its distinctive geisha-quarter atmosphere. These are calm evening moments, far removed from the bustle of a tourist site.

At night, the lantern light, the sound of water, and the notes of the shamisen blend together. This is when the Kaga geisha quarter is at its most beautiful.

Through the Noren Curtains: Dining, Cafes, and Bars in Kazuemachi

Many of the machiya lining Kazuemachi are still working establishments. There are Japanese restaurants and sushi counters serving Kaga’s seasonal produce, a long-established specialist in winter yosenabe (hot pot), machiya cafes set in former teahouses, and bars glowing in the night alleys. Step through the noren and you can enjoy Kaga cuisine, tea, or a drink inside a former teahouse building.

Walk the Slopes, Step Past the Lanterns: A Geisha Quarter Where Kanazawa’s Stories Live

The Kazuemachi Chaya District adds a story to your time in Kanazawa.

The bengara lattice houses pressing close to the Asano River, the slopes the novelists walked, the lantern-lit evenings. Each is a living scene within a geisha quarter where daily life still continues. Walk it, take it in, and step past the noren, and you can place yourself inside that story too.

Beside Kanazawa’s brighter side, this refined geisha quarter has quietly gathered the years. Do visit the Kazuemachi Chaya District.