Artisan Pathways of Fukui & Kanazawa
Washi, knives, silk and gold leaf, made in front of you by the people who make them.
3 days · Kanazawa, Eiheiji, Echizen, Awara Onsen · Year-round · Relaxed · Design lovers, collectors, chefs
Signature moments
– A monk’s tour of Eiheiji, head temple of Soto Zen, founded in 1244
– Pulling your own sheet of washi in a village that has made paper for 1,500 years
– Gilding a piece with gold leaf in the city that makes almost all of Japan’s supply
– Pulling your own sheet of washi in a village that has made paper for 1,500 years
– Gilding a piece with gold leaf in the city that makes almost all of Japan’s supply
Day 1 – Kanazawa
Walk Nagamachi, the old samurai quarter of earthen walls and narrow canals, and the garden of the Nomura family house. At a Kaga Yuzen studio, watch kimono silk hand-painted in the five Kaga colors and try the brush yourself. End at the D.T. Suzuki Museum, where a shallow reflecting pool, the Water Mirror Garden, is built for sitting and thinking about the Zen writer whose name it carries.
Tour Highlights
– Nagamachi samurai district
– Kaga Yuzen silk painting
– D.T. Suzuki Museum
– Kaga Yuzen silk painting
– D.T. Suzuki Museum
Day 2 – Eiheiji and Echizen
Drive into Fukui to Eiheiji, the temple Dogen founded in 1244, where monks still train in halls joined by covered stairways climbing a cedar mountainside. In Imadate, Echizen’s washi village, papermakers have worked the same river for 1,500 years: pull a sheet yourself. Finish at Takefu Knife Village, a cooperative forge where blades are hammered, ground and sharpened in front of you. Overnight at Awara Onsen.
Tour Highlights
– Eiheiji with a monk
– Echizen washi papermaking
– Takefu Knife Village
– Awara Onsen ryokan
– Echizen washi papermaking
– Takefu Knife Village
– Awara Onsen ryokan
Day 3 – Kanazawa
Shinkansen back to Kanazawa, about 25 minutes. Kanazawa produces almost all of Japan’s gold leaf: at a workshop, see it beaten to about a ten-thousandth of a millimeter, then gild a lacquer tray or chopsticks to take home. A last walk through Kazuemachi, the small teahouse lane along the Asano River, before your onward train.
Tour Highlights
– Gold-leaf workshop
– Kazuemachi teahouse lane
– Onward train
– Kazuemachi teahouse lane
– Onward train
Good to know
– Eiheiji is a working monastery and closes to visitors on some ceremony days.
– Most workshops close one day a week; we set the order of the days around them.
– Since the Hokuriku Shinkansen reached Fukui in 2024, this trip joins easily onto Tokyo (direct) or Kyoto (via Tsuruga).
– Most workshops close one day a week; we set the order of the days around them.
– Since the Hokuriku Shinkansen reached Fukui in 2024, this trip joins easily onto Tokyo (direct) or Kyoto (via Tsuruga).
