01 / ARCHITECTURE
Teahouse ArchitectureKIMUSUKO LATTICE
Fine kimusuko lattices below, high-ceilinged banquet rooms above. You cannot see in from outside, yet from inside you see everything — the essence of chaya style.
ABOUT — ひがし茶屋街とは
What is Higashi Chaya?
Higashi Chaya is Kanazawa's largest teahouse district, in the city's Higashiyama quarter. Chartered by the Kaga Domain in 1820 on the east bank of the Asano River, it has carried the culture of the ochaya — teahouses where geigi entertain — for two hundred years.
Along the stone-paved main street, working teahouses still stand behind the fine bengara-red kimusuko lattices, and shamisen drifts through the lanes at dusk. Designated a national Important Preservation District in 2001, the district keeps its Edo-period street plan almost intact.
Abolished and revived at the domain's convenience, flourishing through Meiji and Taishō, transformed after the war — for two centuries this town has survived around its art. At Shima (an Important Cultural Property) and Kaikaro, you can tour authentic teahouse interiors.
Along stone-paved lanes lined with wooden lattices, the sound of shamisen still drifts at dusk. The red of bengara lattices, the glow of gold leaf, the amber sheen of polished wood.
