Kanazawa, the ancient lair of the Maedas, is an old city full of historic treasures. In fact so full that there are all sorts of wonders off the main tourist path that almost no-one seems to go to.
Such was the case with the Sei Son Kaku, we had the place to ourselves. Also, unlike many tourist spots, the place was pretty much as it was when the owners left it.
You can walk around and get close to the furnishings and ornaments and really get the feeing of what it must have been like to live there.
But the really amazing thing is the roof, ....oh the roof. It is made out of millions of wood shingles about 8 x 15 cm overlain to seven layers and held together by millions upon millions of bamboo nails.
The effect is quite mesmerising it is like feathers or fish scales or the scales on the wings of an insect. It shimmers in the light and incredibly folds seemlessly around corners and into valleys and dips. All this punctuated by copper gutters. It must have taken an unimaginaeable amount of fine workmanship and a very long time to create. It was a warm day and with the screens open on the second floor the breeze was perfumed with the smell of cedar from the roof.
Oh my god - it's mesmerizing. I've copied the images and zoomed in and they are almost fractals in their patterns. Wow you've had a wonderful trip
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