House and garden are open 9am-5pm (8am-6pm in the summer).
Admission:
Added to JGarden:
9/21/2003
Last Updated:
9/21/2003
Sources:
Kanazawa: The Other Side of Japan. Ruth Stevens, p 194.
JGarden Description:
This garden and house includes a fascinating history. The story begins with Nomura Denbei, a samurai at the end of the Edo period, who, when he was cut off from his stipend with the Meiji Restoration, attempted to cultivate apple orchards on his 3,300 sq meter estate in the Nagamachi section of town. For a while, Kaga ringo (apple) were very popular in Tokyo, and the business flourished. But when apple production shifted to Tohoku (northern Japan), Nomura was forced to sell off his land. The last section was purchased by a local industrialist in the early Showa period. The new owner moved an old house here from Daishoji-cho and constructed an Enshu-style garden and tea house.
The name, Onikawa, is derived from the yôsui waterway running from the house and through the garden. While oni is now written with the character for 'demon', it originally was written with the character for 'luggage' or 'baggage' and probably indicated the use of the river for mvoing supplies from the sea to the castle.
Do not seek to emulate the old masters. Seek what they sought.
