Kanazawa

Industrial city on the west coast of Honshu island, capital of Ishikawa prefecture, Chubu region, Japan, 160 km/100 mi northwest of Nagoya; population (2005) 454,600. which is the seat of the prefectural government. Industries include the manufacture of machinery, Yuzen (printed silk), and maki-e (decorated lacquerware). Kanazawa was a feudal castle town from the 16th century.

The city was not bombed during World War II, and so the castle gatehouse, temples, a samurai house dating from 1770, and a public park based on a Kenrokuen garden developed in the early 19th century by the locally powerful Maeda family, have survived.

The Japanese porcelain known as Kutani was first made at Kutani-mura, a neighbouring village.