Kanazawa
I went Kanazawa city where was my mother's hometown this weekend. A memorial service for my grandmother who died 5 years ago was going to be held. So her daughters' families got together to attend it. After the memorial service, we had a drinking party, called "naorai".
Naorai means that the religious service ends and a daily life starts again. Some ingredients in dishes of the naorai are offerings to a deity.
My grandmother's home is a Japanese-style hotel in Kanazawa. Naturally, the naorai was held at the hotel. It was my first visit to the hotel. I don't pay a compliment to them because of distant relative. Even though the hotel wasn't big, it was really nice.
Kanazawa is sometimes called "small Kyoto in northern Japan". There are a lot of Japanese traditional hotels, restaurants, shops and so on. The competitions are very fierce.
I know a case that a well-known store selling Japanese style sweets lost its reputation because of its bad taste. The store was a highly reputed shop that has continued in business since Edo period and it was once a purveyor of the lord of Kanazawa castle.
I think this case is a matter of course. But I heard an unwelcome change about Kanazawa yesterday.
Nationwide hotel groups have built big hotels around Kanazawa station for last two decade. Once a number of old Japanese hotels which selling point was Japanese traditional dishes was over 100, but now it is only 14.
Why do tourists want to stay at a big hotel? I can't understand. We can't feel the atmosphere of old Japan there.
Dishes of naorai were not only delicious but also beautiful. Some dishes were in shape of a rock arrangement of Kanazawa castle, a chestnut shell, an autumn leaf, and a chrysanthemum. They delighted our eyes.
We stayed at a Japanese room. It had a pillar made of Japanese cedar at an alcove in the room, called "tokonoma". And its ceiling was made of real wooden boards of pine trees. A ceramics vase put on tokonoma was a noted local product, called "kutaniyaki".
The right things in the right places. Good. I really enjoyed them.
If you're going to Kanazawa, please check this site!
http://park10.wakwak.com/~hashimotoya/
Naorai means that the religious service ends and a daily life starts again. Some ingredients in dishes of the naorai are offerings to a deity.
My grandmother's home is a Japanese-style hotel in Kanazawa. Naturally, the naorai was held at the hotel. It was my first visit to the hotel. I don't pay a compliment to them because of distant relative. Even though the hotel wasn't big, it was really nice.
Kanazawa is sometimes called "small Kyoto in northern Japan". There are a lot of Japanese traditional hotels, restaurants, shops and so on. The competitions are very fierce.
I know a case that a well-known store selling Japanese style sweets lost its reputation because of its bad taste. The store was a highly reputed shop that has continued in business since Edo period and it was once a purveyor of the lord of Kanazawa castle.
I think this case is a matter of course. But I heard an unwelcome change about Kanazawa yesterday.
Nationwide hotel groups have built big hotels around Kanazawa station for last two decade. Once a number of old Japanese hotels which selling point was Japanese traditional dishes was over 100, but now it is only 14.
Why do tourists want to stay at a big hotel? I can't understand. We can't feel the atmosphere of old Japan there.
Dishes of naorai were not only delicious but also beautiful. Some dishes were in shape of a rock arrangement of Kanazawa castle, a chestnut shell, an autumn leaf, and a chrysanthemum. They delighted our eyes.
We stayed at a Japanese room. It had a pillar made of Japanese cedar at an alcove in the room, called "tokonoma". And its ceiling was made of real wooden boards of pine trees. A ceramics vase put on tokonoma was a noted local product, called "kutaniyaki".
The right things in the right places. Good. I really enjoyed them.
If you're going to Kanazawa, please check this site!
http://park10.wakwak.com/~hashimotoya/
posted by sacchan at 4:31 AM
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