Ochaya Are Museum (Ochaya Curuture Museum) , Kanazawa city pref Ishikawa

Hours　 /: 9:30 - 16:30
Holiday /: thursday

Admission: adults:500yen
childres(under16):300yen
Address: 13-7 higashiyama Kanazawa city,
pref Ishikawa

Phone 　/: 076-252-0887
FAX　　/: 076-252-0883

This graceful ochaya-styled building called “Nakaya” dates from 1820. It is a well-preserved and valuable example of a typical ochaya of the Edo Period. Although the Japanese word “ocha” is commonly translated as “tea” in English , an ochaya was actually a formal meeting place for customers to be entertained by geisha as they drank sake , not tea. As a rule, elite ochaya such as Nakaya would have been patronized exclusively by upper-class merchants.
“Suikinkustu” 1F garden

1F Exhibition hall

Nakaya retains many beautiful features attesting to its days of bygone elegance. On the outside of the building, delicate lattice windows have been applied with bengara ( an expencive Indian-red lacquer). In face, nearly all of Nakaya’s wood surfaces have been lacquered. On the ground floor, geisha’s hair ornaments, old tableware, and traditional handcrafted items are displayed. The hair ornaments include Kanzashi (hairpins), kushi (combs), and kogai (ornamental bodkin), and the tableware and handcrafted goos include Kaga lacquer-ware, Kutani ceramics, and Ohi ceramics. Kaga lacquer-ware, in particular, is greatly prized because of the high degree of technical sophistication requied to produce it.

2F Guest-room

On the upper floor, zashiki drawing rooms can be found ; some of which contain lustrous red walls and others crystal-clear blue walls. In ochaya such as Nakaya, zashiki were always positioned on upper floors where guests could relax while enoying the graceful dancing and accomplished musical performances of geisha.

Please enjoy the remarkable exhibitions and beautiful rooms of this nearly 200-yaer-old ochaya, which harmonizes medieval and exquisite style.

“Suikinkustu” 1F garden

1F Exhibition hall

2F Guest-room