Adjoining Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa Castle Park is an expansive area including the city’s reconstructed castle structures. For around 300 years and the end of Edo Period, the castle was the stronghold of the Maeda Clan, who dominated the region and were the second most powerful family in Japan, behind the Tokugawa Shogunate.

While the majority of the structure is a reconstruction – the Ishikawa-mon Gate and two store houses being exceptions – the buildings have been beautifully restored with the surrounding grounds highly manicured. As such, Kanazawa offers great insight to the history of Kanazawa, particularly when combing a visit with the adjoining Kenrokuen Garden and nearby historic districts.