Kanazawa's Traditional Crafts: Gold Leaf, Yuzen, and More
Kanazawa keeps four traditional crafts alive today: gold leaf, Kaga Yuzen dyeing, Ohi-yaki pottery, and Kaga Mizuhiki cord art. Here is each craft's technique, history, and tie to the Kaga Domain, with sources.
Kanazawa's traditional crafts developed hand in hand with industrial promotion under the Kaga Domain. Gold leaf is said to date to the era of Maeda Toshiie; Kaga Yuzen dyeing was shaped by a visiting Kyoto craftsman; Ohi-yaki traces back to a potter invited to Kanazawa by Maeda Tsunanori; and Kaga Mizuhiki was invented in the Taisho era. Each took root in Kanazawa through a different era and a different set of circumstances.
This article explains how each of these four crafts began, and what makes their techniques distinct, with sources.
How did gold leaf become one of Kanazawa's industries?
It's said to date to the era of Maeda Toshiie, survived an Edo-era ban, and now accounts for nearly all of Japan's output.
Maeda Toshiie and the origins of Kanazawa's gold leaf
Kanazawa's gold leaf industry is said to trace back to Kaga Domain founder Maeda Toshiie. In 1593, while on campaign during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, Toshiie is said to have sent orders back to his domains of Kaga and Noto to begin producing gold and silver leaf, a moment now treated as the starting point of Kanazawa leaf's history, spanning more than 400 years.
Gold leaf production survives even under an Edo-era ban
The Tokugawa shogunate banned gold-leaf production anywhere outside Edo and Kyoto, but the Kaga Domain is said to have continued producing it quietly to support its craft industries. After a fire destroyed the second bailey of Kanazawa Castle in 1808, the domain reportedly brought in craftsmen from Kyoto to supply the large quantities of gold leaf needed for reconstruction, and by 1864, production was officially permitted for the domain's own official use. Through this history, Kanazawa has grown into the source of roughly 99 percent of Japan's domestically produced gold leaf.
Source:Did you know Kanazawa produces over 98 percent of Japan's gold leaf?
How is Kaga Yuzen different from Kyoto's Yuzen dyeing?
It favors realistic plant motifs and the five Kaga colors, and unlike Kyoto Yuzen, it skips gold leaf and embroidery.
Miyazaki Yuzensai's arrival and the growth of Kaga Yuzen
Kaga Yuzen traces its roots back roughly 500 years to a distinctive local dyeing method called ume-zome. Around 1712, Miyazaki Yuzensai, a fan painter popular in Kyoto, was invited to work at a Kanazawa dye house, bringing with him the paste-resist yuzen technique and driving major growth in what became Kaga Yuzen.
Source:What is Kaga Yuzen? Kaga Yuzen official industry association
The mushikui and sotobokashi techniques, and the five Kaga colors
Kaga Yuzen builds its designs around five signature colors, indigo, ochre, deep green, ancient purple, and ink, rendering flowers and plants in a realistic style. Distinctive techniques include mushikui, which deliberately paints insect-eaten marks onto leaves, and sotobokashi, shading a motif darker at its edges and lighter toward its center. Unlike Kyoto Yuzen, which often adds gold leaf and embroidery, Kaga Yuzen relies on dyeing alone to finish a design.
Source:The history of Kaga Yuzen
What kind of tea pottery is Ohi-yaki?
A Raku-ware offshoot founded by a potter Maeda Tsunanori invited to Kanazawa, known for amber glaze and hand-molding.
The founding of Ohi-yaki: Maeda Tsunanori and Ohi Chozaemon
Ohi-yaki traces back to around 1666, when fifth domain lord Maeda Tsunanori invited Senshoso Soshitsu, fourth-generation head of the Urasenke tea school, to Kanazawa as his tea master. A potter who accompanied him, a senior disciple of Ichinyu, the fourth-generation head of the Raku family, stayed on in Kanazawa even after Senshoso returned to Kyoto, having discovered a fine local clay in Ohi Village, now part of Kanazawa. He took the name "Ohi," and his descendants served as official potters to the Maeda family for generations after.
Source:Ohi-yaki
Hand-molding and amber glaze
Ohi-yaki is shaped entirely by hand, without a potter's wheel, pinched into form and finished with a spatula. Pieces are fired quickly at high heat in a small kiln and then cooled rapidly, a technique shared with Raku ware more broadly, and the amber glaze said to have been passed down from the Raku family when the first Ohi potter left Kyoto gives the ware a warm, understated quality well suited to Kanazawa's snowy climate.
Source:What defines Ohi-yaki? The appeal of amber glaze and hand-molding
How did Kaga Mizuhiki become a three-dimensional craft?
Invented in the Taisho era by Tsuda Sokichi, it applies the awaji knot to build sculptural, three-dimensional cord art.
Tsuda Sokichi's invention of Kaga Mizuhiki
Kaga Mizuhiki is a form of decorative cord art invented around 1915 by Tsuda Sokichi. Until then, the mizuhiki knots used on betrothal gifts and monetary envelopes were largely flat, but Tsuda developed origata, a technique for wrapping washi paper into three-dimensional forms, alongside sculptural mizuhiki knots shaped like cranes, turtles, and pine-bamboo-plum motifs, establishing a technique for dressing up gifts with real dimension.
Source:Tsuda Mizuhiki Origata, Kanazawa Craft Business Creation Agency
Three-dimensional cord art built on the awaji knot
Kaga Mizuhiki's defining trait is its lush, three-dimensional form. The cord technique Tsuda invented by adapting the existing awaji knot passed down to his daughter, Tsuda Ume, and it continues today through a fifth generation of practitioners. In recent years, it has moved beyond traditional betrothal gifts into everyday accessories and small goods.
FAQ
Is Kanazawa gold leaf ever used in food?
Yes. Beyond decorating crafts, gold leaf is used to garnish sake, wagashi sweets, and other dishes. Kanazawa leaf is beaten so thin that it barely registers on the tongue, which is part of why it works so well as a food garnish.
What kind of patterns are common on Kaga Yuzen kimono?
Cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, and cranes are favorite motifs, rendered realistically. Having developed largely for samurai-class women's kimono, Kaga Yuzen tends toward calmer colors and a refinement that avoids excessive flash, compared with Kyoto Yuzen.
What kinds of objects is Ohi-yaki used for today?
Tea bowls, water containers, flower vases, and everyday tableware are the main items produced today. Because it developed originally as tea-ceremony ware, many pieces are still made specifically for use in the tea ceremony.
Where can visitors try Kaga Mizuhiki for themselves?
Workshops around Kanazawa offer hands-on classes where visitors can make mizuhiki accessories, giving tourists an easy way to try the technique firsthand.
Sources & references
- What is Kanazawa gold leaf? Experience 400 years of beauty and craft in Japan's leading producing region
- Did you know Kanazawa produces over 98 percent of Japan's gold leaf?
- What is Kaga Yuzen? Kaga Yuzen official industry association
- The history of Kaga Yuzen
- Ohi-yaki
- What defines Ohi-yaki? The appeal of amber glaze and hand-molding
- Tsuda Mizuhiki Origata, Kanazawa Craft Business Creation Agency
- Kaga Mizuhiki, Tsuda Mizuhiki Origata