Nagamachi長町武家屋敷跡

The single must-see in Nagamachi. Former residence of the Nomura family, retainers of the Maeda clan since the founding of the Kaga domain. The current building isn't the Meiji-demolished original, it's a transplanted upper-merchant residence from neighbouring Daishoji domain, rebuilt to museum standards.

What's world-class is the garden: Michelin Green Guide Japan 2-star, ranked #3 in Japan by the American journal Sukiya Living, with 400-year-old yamamomo and chinquapin trees and a curving water channel that runs right up to the engawa veranda, sit there with your feet a metre above the water. Tea ceremony available in the Fubaku-an tea house (¥300 with seasonal sweet).

The mustard-yellow earthen walls are the visual signature of Nagamachi. Built using a traditional method combining wooden frames, wattle, mud, and rough plaster, they're surprisingly fragile, frost, snow, and rain damage them annually.

That's why each winter straw mats are hung over the lower portion to protect them from snow and ice. Installed early December, removed mid-March. Together with yukitsuri at Kenrokuen, komo-kake is one of Kanazawa's two iconic winter sights. The mat-hanging is a craftsman's task, you can sometimes see workers installing or removing them in early/late season. Best earthen-wall photo: from Ni-no-bashi bridge looking down the wall-lined lane.

The counterpoint to the Nomura experience. The ashigaru were the lowest-ranking foot soldiers, and this museum, made from two transplanted ashigaru houses, shows their daily life. Small rooms, modest items, simple tatami, family altars.

Why it matters: within 200 metres of the Nomura's Michelin-starred garden, you see how dramatically samurai class structure stratified daily existence. The pair makes the visit. Free admission, no reason not to include it.

Established 1873, enshrining Maeda Toshiie (founder of the Kaga clan, died 1599) and his wife Lady Matsu. The famous Shinmon Gate is a 3-storey gate from 1875 with stained glass windows on the third floor, extraordinarily unusual for a Shinto shrine, topped with Japan's oldest still-functioning lightning rod.

Behind the shrine, the Nezumida-mon Gate and bridge connect directly to Kanazawa Castle Park's Gyokusen-immaru Garden. This is the through-line route: Nagamachi → Oyama Shrine → Castle Park → Kenrokuen, all walkable in one afternoon. Best photographed at dusk when the gate is illuminated against the sky.