Kazuemachi Chaya District is one of three Chayamachi in Kanazawa during the Edo Age.

The direct translation of "Chayamachi" is tea house town, but "Chaya" were private entertainment places, where high-ranking samurais and wealthy merchants enjoyed instrumental performances of Geisha ladies while drinking Japanese sake with them.

Kazuemachi Chaya District, "Kazuemachi Chayamachi", is located along the Asano River flowing on the north side of Kanazawa Downtown.

If you walk from the Higashi Chaya District to the south, you will cross over the Asano Ohashi Bridge. Chaya houses in Kazuemachi can be seen in a line on the left side of Asano River.

Many of the Chaya houses are now open as restaurants. Windows and doors of "Chaya" houses are covered with latticework. The scenery of latticework provides you with an atmosphere from the Edo Age.

If you walk from the river side to the inside of Kazuemachi, you will be surprised with narrow streets.
You may feel you might get lost on your way in a maze of streets.

To the south of Kazuemachi Chaya District, the house where a well-known novelist, IZUMI Kyoka, was born and Kuboichi-Oto-Tsurugi Shrine are located on a hill. The slope of the hill is named "Kuragari-saka", meaning a Dark Slope. Guests to Kazuemachi Chaya walk down this slope to a Chaya house.

"Kazuemachi Chayamachi" is designated as an important preservation district of historic buildings.

How to get there
To Kazuemachi Chaya District, take a Hokutetsu Bus on the seventh bus stop to the east side of Kanazawa Station. Or, take a "Kanazawa Shuyu Bus", Kanazawa Loop Bus. You can get off a bus at the Hashiba-Cho bus stop.

Official English Website:
http://visitkanazawa.jp/mustgoplace/
touristspot/area4/1

Other Historical Sites near by:
Higashi Chaya District
Ruins of Kanazawa Castle
Kenrokuen Garden
Nagamachi Buke Yashiki District