Higashi Chaya District

This guide to the Higashi Chaya District in Kanazawa starts on a night in 1820, when Lord Maeda Narinaga ordered Kanazawa's scattered teahouses gathered into licensed quarters, and follows why a warlord worth a million koku of rice chose culture over armies to disguise his wealth. You'll hear about the geisha trained in music rather than politics, and step inside Shima, the teahouse built that same year. Listen after dark, when shamisen and hand drums still carry from behind the wooden screens.