Kanazawa 2019: Kanazawa Castle (金沢城) at night

On my arrival night in Kanazawa I went over to Kanazawa Castle and took some photos of the castle grounds. Floodlights illuminate Kanazawa Castle’s buildings at night and although the interiors of the buildings are closed to visitors at around 5:00pm or 6:00pm (depending on the time of year) the castle grounds remain open for a few extra hours after dark.

There were several other people wandering around the castle that night but otherwise the castle was largely empty. I would revisit Kanazawa Castle during the daytime a couple days later and in that future post I’ll go into the castle’s history and architecture. Though I toured many castles during my 2019 trip, Kanazawa Castle was the only Japanese castle that I visited at night.

I hung around the castle taking photos until an announcement came over the loudspeakers that the castle was closing soon and all visitors were to leave the premises. After taking one last photo of one of the castle’s gates I switched off my camera and exited the castle via the park on the north side. I had two nights reserved for Kanazawa and the weather forecast showed that it would be rainy for much of the following day but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from exploring the city.