Kanazawa (金沢) part 3

Kanazawa has been called "Little Kyoto".  After visiting it I'm not quite sure this is accurate.  They certainly have things in common, but for me, Kanazawa has a very different feel to it.  It's proximity to the sea gives it a more relaxed, almost beachy vibe.  It is open, and airy like some coastal California cities.  The streets are wider, so are the sidewalks.  The buildings are lower.  There seems to be less bad architecture, those truly offensive contemporary buildings you find in Kyoto right next to a historic machiya.  Indeed, the preservation of traditional Meiji and Taisho era architecture appears to be a priority in Kanazawa.  I saw several restorations in progress.  I didn't see any evidence of the thoughtless tear-downs which plague Kyoto.

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A long walk through Nagamachi Buke-Yashiki, Nishi Chaya and Teramachi Jiingun.  Narrow lanes, meandering canals and slightly neglected temples.  
Gannenji Temple has a delightfully overgrown garden.  Completely atypical.  Temple gardens are always immaculate, not a leaf out of place.  This concept has been turned on its head here.  It is somehow more natural, more harmonious.  Wabi-sabi.  I like it.  Nearby Kokutaiji is the same.  Wild, humming with life.

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If you wander long enough you'll find things you weren't really looking for, but are glad you did.  I turn down a little alley of tightly packed machiya near the Asanogawa Bridge and voila…I'm in Kazuemachi Chaya - one of the three historic geisha districts.  

I'm hungry; I'm looking for a place to eat lunch.  But everything is closed, the streets are quiet.  The geisha vocation is, after all, not a matinee gig.  I see the noren (curtain) hanging outside one place.  I can't read the kanji, but noren means open.  I slide the door open and ask if a reservation is required.  It's a sushi restaurant, I discover.  Name: Kanazawa Kazue Sushi Sho.  I'm seated at the 4-seat bar on the second floor in front of the young-looking chef.  I'm nervous.  Memories of a Kyoto sushi bar 5 years ago.  He's cool, relaxed, even speaks some English.  And the sushi is amazing!  We chit-chat and by the end I feel I've made a new friend.  Through the noren!

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I was not really expecting the Kanazawa I found.  It was something more, something better.  My heart belongs to Kyoto, but if I'm allowed a mistress, I'll take Kanazawa.