Kenroku-en Garden

Kenroku-en is traditionally counted among Japan's three most perfect landscape gardens, and it earns the rank in every season: a strolling garden of ponds, streams, bridges and teahouses composed over two centuries by the Maeda lords, whose castle stands across the road. Its name means garden of six attributes - the six qualities classical Chinese garden theory said could never be combined in one place, which this garden set out to disprove. The signature sights are the two-legged Kotoji stone lantern by the pond and the ancient pines whose branches are supported by wooden crutches and, each winter, by yukitsuri - conical rope riggings that protect them from heavy snow and turn the garden into geometry.

What you actually see

• The Kotoji lantern - the two-legged lantern that is Kanazawa's emblem.
• Yukitsuri in winter - the rope cones rigged over the great pines against snow.
• The Kasumigaike pond circuit - the classic strolling route of bridges and reflections.
• Kanazawa Castle and the samurai and geisha districts - the old city that frames the garden.

When to go

Genuinely rewarding in all four seasons, which is the point of its design: plum and cherry blossom in spring, deep green in summer, fiery maples in November, and the snow-and-rope yukitsuri scene in winter. Early morning entry beats the tour buses.

Honest expectations

This is a garden for slow walking, not a spectacle for a quick photo - visitors who sprint it in twenty minutes wonder what the fuss was. Give it ninety unhurried minutes and the composition starts working. Kanazawa itself deserves the overnight: the Higashi Chaya geisha district, the samurai quarter and a superb morning market make it the classic side of Japan that the shinkansen made easy.

Nearby

Kanazawa Castle is across the street; the Higashi Chaya district and Omicho market are a short walk.