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Visiting the Founder Who Built Kanazawa: A Guide to Oyama Shrine’s Highlights
The Kaga Domain, known as “Kaga’s million koku,” boasted the largest rice yield of any feudal domain in Edo-period Japan (koku, a unit used to rank a domain’s wealth). The castle town that flourished at its heart is today’s Kanazawa.
The foundation of this million-koku domain was laid by its first lord, Maeda Toshiie. Oyama Shrine, which enshrines Toshiie and his wife Matsu, has been cherished and preserved by the people of Kanazawa ever since.
Fittingly for a shrine dedicated to the founder who gave birth to the city, a three-tiered main gate (Shinmon) rises at the front of the approach, built with all the pride of Kaga’s craftsmen. Bringing Japanese, Chinese, and Western styles together into one, it is a gate found nowhere else in Japan.
Let’s explore the highlights of Oyama Shrine one by one, tracing the legacy of Kaga’s million-koku domain.
Oyama Shrine
Oyama Shrine, in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, enshrines Maeda Toshiie, founder of the Kaga Domain, and his wife Matsu. As one of Kanazawa’s signature attractions, it draws many visitors alongside Kenrokuen Garden and Kanazawa Castle.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Oyama Shrine (Oyama Jinja) |
| Visiting hours | Grounds open freely (accessible all day) |
| Shrine office hours | 9:00 am - 5:00 pm |
| Admission | Free |
| Goshuin | Available (at the shrine office, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm) |
| Phone | 076-231-7210 |
| Address | 11 - 1 Oyamamachi, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa 920 - 0918 |
| Access | About a 3 - minute walk from the Minamicho / Oyama Jinja bus stop |
| Parking | Available (15 spaces for standard cars) |
| Official site | https://www.oyama-jinja.or.jp/ |
Maeda Toshiie and Lady Matsu, Founders of Kaga’s Million-Koku Domain
Oyama Shrine enshrines Maeda Toshiie, the first lord of the Kaga Domain, and his wife Matsu (Lady Matsu).
Maeda Toshiie was a warlord who served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and who laid the foundation of the million-koku Kaga Domain spanning the three provinces of Kaga, Noto, and Etchu. To honor his achievements, Oyama Shrine was founded in 1873 on this site, the former grounds of Kanaya Palace, to enshrine the domain’s founder as a deity.
Lady Matsu is remembered as the wife who supported Toshiie throughout his life, and in 1998 she came to be enshrined together with him.
Because the couple is enshrined together, the shrine is revered for blessings of marital harmony, fertility, and safe childbirth. In addition, drawing on Toshiie’s life as a warrior, many worshippers also come to pray for victory and for excellence in both scholarship and the martial arts.
In the grounds stands a statue of Maeda Toshiie mounted on horseback. On his back is a piece of armor called a horo, a cloak-like cloth worn over the back of the armor to shield a warrior from arrows coming from behind. The statue captures the valiant figure who, in his youth under Oda Nobunaga, was known as “Mataza of the Spear” (Yari no Mataza).
Japanese, Chinese, and Western in One: The Main Gate, the Face of Oyama Shrine
The main gate (Shinmon) standing at the front of the approach is a three-tiered gate built in 1875 as the formal entrance to the shrine of the domain’s founder, Maeda Toshiie. It was designed in a style unprecedented for its time, a blend of Japanese, Chinese, and Western elements brought together into one.
On the third tier, panels of colored glass (giyaman) are set into all four sides.
Giyaman is a term for the glasswork that reached Japan during the Edo period. The pairing of stained glass with a shrine gate is found nowhere else.
In the past, a light was lit on the gate’s third tier, serving as a lighthouse to guide ships sailing the waters off Kanaiwa. When dusk falls and the light comes on, the colored glass seems to float against the night sky.
Even today, it remains a popular spot that adds color to Kanazawa’s nights.
The Shrine Garden, Shaped After a Koto and a Biwa
In a secluded corner of the grounds spreads a garden known as the shrine garden (shin’en).
It recreates the garden of Kanaya Palace, the Kaga Domain residence that once stood on this site. Built around a central pond with paths winding through it, it is a strolling pond garden.
Within the garden, bridges and islands shaped after gagaku court-music instruments such as the koto (a zither) and the biwa (a lute) are arranged throughout, earning it the name “Garden of Musical Instruments.”
A Glass-Walled Shrine Office in a Historic Shrine
Another eye-catching sight in the grounds is the fully glass-walled shrine office.
Built in 2015 with an open design, its wooden eaves and glass walls reflect the surrounding greenery and sky. A piece of modern architecture set within a historic shrine, it is a photogenic highlight in its own right.
Here you can receive goshuin (hand-brushed seal stamps given to worshippers) and omamori (protective amulets). The office is open from 9:00 to 17:00. As a memento of your visit, you can obtain items unique to this shrine tied to the Maeda family of the Kaga Domain.
A Shortcut from the Back to Kanazawa Castle’s Illumination
Behind Oyama Shrine stands Nezumitabashi Bridge. Together with Nezumita-mon Gate, whose black-plastered walls are strikingly beautiful, it presents an imposing figure over the water-filled moat.
Crossing this bridge brings you to Gyokusen’inmaru Garden in Kanazawa Castle Park.
During Kanazawa Castle’s nighttime illumination, this is the closest route to the Gyokusen’inmaru Garden light-up.
A Shrine Tied to the Maeda Family: History by Day, Beauty by Night
Oyama Shrine sits adjacent to Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen Garden, right at the center of Kanazawa sightseeing.
By day, reflect on the Maeda family; by night, enjoy the beauty of the stained glass and Kanazawa Castle’s illumination.
Oyama Shrine is an attraction to enjoy at any time of day. It is compact enough to visit again and again.
Offer a prayer to Maeda Toshiie, who gave birth to the city, and look up at a main gate found only here in Kanazawa.
Be sure to pay a visit to Oyama Shrine.
