Takada Family House

At a crossroads in Kanazawa's Nagamachi samurai district, the Takada Family House gives you a genuine look inside the world of a middle-ranking samurai from the old Kaga domain. The restored longhouse gate, or nagaya-mon, opens onto a property that once stretched beyond 1,400 square meters. Inside, exhibits cover the servants who kept the household running. The real draw is the stroll garden: a central pond fed directly by the canal, rimmed by artfully placed Japanese red pine. It's a peaceful, unhurried place to spend an hour away from the busier streets of Nagamachi.