Kinjohro

Kinjohro is a Kanazawa house founded in 1890, both a ryōtei (a traditional restaurant where meals are served in private rooms) and a ryokan (Japanese inn), with six Japanese-style rooms by the Asano River, the starting point for walks to the Kazue-machi and Higashi Chaya teahouse districts. It suits couples who come to Kanazawa first for the food: Kaga-style kaiseki is served in the room or a private dining room, and in the evening you walk back from the teahouse quarters.

A restaurant with rooms

Kinjohro is first of all a kaiseki restaurant (kaiseki being a Japanese meal of many small seasonal courses) serving the cuisine of Kaga, the former domain of the Maeda lords, whose capital was Kanazawa. The rooms extend the meal: kaiseki dinner and breakfast are served in the room or in a private dining room, never in a shared hall. Tea is served on arrival, and drinks from the room's fridge are included.

Stays can be booked room only, with breakfast, or with the Kaga kaiseki dinner; a crab kaiseki menu is offered on some dates. Prices shown on the house's booking engine include consumption tax and service.

The house keeps its history: the garden is that of the former residence of Maeda Tsushima-no-kami almost unchanged for more than 150 years, and the Fuji-an annex was built for the enthronement of Emperor Shōwa.

Six rooms, six ways to sleep

All rooms are Japanese-style, with tatami floors (rice-straw mats) and a private bathroom with a bidet toilet. What changes from one to the next is the bedding, the view and the bath material. The sizes below are those given by the house's booking engine.

• Take no Ma (100 m²): the largest, with two rooms of 15 and 8 tatami mats, futons (mattresses laid on the floor), a private bath in natural red granite and a view of a small inner garden around the Gesshō stone. The hanging scroll changes with the seasons.
• Yuki no Ma and Tsuki no Ma (92 m² each): both look onto the historic garden. Yuki no Ma has a 13-tatami room and a bedroom with beds; Tsuki no Ma has two rooms of 12 and 11 tatami and you sleep on futons.
• Fuji no Ma and Kiku no Ma (62 m² each): the two 3rd-floor rooms, built in May 2015, with a Japanese room, a bedroom with beds and a study corner; bath made entirely of hinoki (Japanese cypress). Fuji no Ma looks onto a garden laid out on that floor. They can be booked together to have the whole floor, an option for a family or friends.
• Hana no Ma (46 m²): a single 10-tatami room over the historic garden, futons and a hinoki bath; the simplest in the house.

If you prefer a bed, choose Yuki no Ma, Fuji no Ma or Kiku no Ma; for futons and the most space, Take no Ma or Tsuki no Ma. For three or more guests, the rooms with beds add futons.

The house has no hot spring: each room has its own private bath with ordinary water.

An accessible house

Kinjohro has a lift and step-free rooms, and lends a wheelchair. It is certified by the Japan Tourism Agency for accessible hospitality. There is free parking for 10 cars.

Check-in is from 4 pm, last arrival 7 pm, and check-out is at 11 am.

On foot through Kanazawa's teahouse quarters

The house is at 2-23 Hashiba-chō, by the Asano River, the starting point for walks to Kazue-machi and Higashi Chaya, the chaya districts (wooden teahouses where geiko, Kanazawa's traditional entertainers, perform). On Saturdays from May 2026 to March 2027, the Kanazawa tourist office runs a geiko performance of about an hour in a teahouse in the Higashi, Nishi or Kazue-machi district, with tea and a sweet, for 5,000 ¥ (about 29 €) per person.

Kenrokuen garden is a walk or short taxi ride away; it opens 7 am to 6 pm from 1 March to 15 October and 8 am to 5 pm the rest of the year. The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art will be closed from 6 May 2027 to March 2028, so plan a visit before May 2027 if it matters to you.

From Kanazawa Station, the Hokuriku Railroad bus leaves the East Exit (stop 6) and stops at Hashiba-chō, outside the door, in 12 minutes. Kanazawa is about 2 hours 30 from Tokyo on the Hokuriku Shinkansen (bullet train). The city and its surroundings are covered on our Kanazawa and Kaga Onsen page, and the Japanese Alps and Kanazawa in 10 days itinerary spends three nights here.

Kinjohro or a Kaga hot spring ryokan

In our selection, Kinjohro is the only address in the city: you stay for the food and for evening walks in the teahouse districts. The other two are in Yamashiro Onsen, 15 minutes from Kanazawa by Shinkansen to Kaga-Onsen and then by car: Beniya Mukayu, 16 rooms each with a private open-air hot spring bath, and KAI Kaga, 48 rooms in the middle of the spa town. A stay in the region often pairs two nights at Kinjohro with one or two in Kaga for the baths.