Kanazawa - The City of Ninjas

Today marked the last day trip for now – and at the same time the longest journey for a day trip so far. We had about three hours of train travel ahead of us because we wanted to go to Kanazawa, which is quite a bit north of Osaka.

The plan for the day was clear: first a ninja temple and then a museum for ninja weapons. However, before we even set off, we encountered the first small disappointment: a phone reservation is required for the temple. And of course, we hadn’t made a reservation. Our SIM card only allows internet access, and calling would probably have been 'somewhat' expensive with a foreign number.

So we decided to try our luck on-site – and lo and behold: It worked. We got a spontaneous slot about 20 minutes later.

The catch: The tour was conducted exclusively in Japanese, and photography was strictly prohibited. Nevertheless, we decided to go inside. At least we received a folder with English explanations, so we could still understand what was being shown and explained.

And it was truly fascinating. The temple is full of secret passages, trapdoors, and hidden rooms – concealed under the floor, behind double sliding doors, or even hidden in a closet. By the way, we only found out at the end that it’s not officially a ninja temple at all. This name was only given to it later – presumably by media or tourists – because the building is full of sophisticated security and deception mechanisms.

After visiting this temple, we headed straight to the next destination: a museum for ninja weapons. There was plenty to see – and to make up for the lack of photographic evidence from the temple, I took even more pictures here.

After a few minutes of exploring on our own, a staff member took time to explain many of the exhibits in more detail, providing us with additional background knowledge about weapons, techniques, and applications. She also talked about a device that was supposedly supposed to allow one to walk on water. However, this apparatus was never actually found, only records of it. And so it was quickly replicated.

Since the museum itself is not very big, we didn’t stay there too long. But at the entrance, we had booked a little additional activity: throwing ninja needles (small pointed metal sticks). So off to the target and gave it our best shot. It was quite amusing – but our conclusion is clear: As ninjas, we probably wouldn’t have survived long.

By now, it was early afternoon, and a constant in this vacation made itself known again: coffee. So off to the next cafe.

After that, we took a stroll to a shrine. I properly honored it again – this time with hand washing beforehand – and afterwards, we walked through the small adjoining garden.

As it started to get dark, we made our way to the last stop in Kanazawa: another historic district. We wandered a bit through the streets but had to find that many places had already closed and some areas were quite dark.

Since we still had almost three hours of train travel back to Osaka ahead of us, we finally headed back to the station – but not without grabbing a bite to eat first. And as often, the coffee nerd proved to have a good knack for the right places: We ended up in a tiny restaurant with maybe eight to ten seats.

There was something we actually hadn’t eaten during our vacation so far: sushi. The food was excellent, the owners incredibly friendly, and the three other guests were also very open, polite, and in good spirits. They were particularly pleased when we said “delicious” in Japanese.

After this culinary highlight, it was time to head to the train. About three and a half hours later, we returned to the hotel – after another successful day.

Little extra to conclude: At the station in Kanazawa, there is a clock. Sounds unspectacular at first – if it weren’t for the fact that it displays the time with water.