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There are several museums immediately to the southwest of Kenroku-en, one of the best being the informative Ishikawa Prefectural Museum for Traditional Products and Crafts (April-Nov daily 9.30am-5pm; closed every third Thurs; Jan-March & Dec daily except Thurs 9.30am-5pm; Y250), in a concrete building beside the Seison-kaku, next to the garden's east exit. Across two floors are displayed prime contemporary examples of Kanazawa's rich artistic heritage, including lacquerware, dyed silk, pottery, musical instruments and fireworks. None of the articles are for sale but all have a price tag, so if you take a fancy to one of the gold leaf and lacquer Buddhist family altars, for example, you'll know that it costs Y4.5 million.

Heading downhill from the gardens, past the No Culture Hall , where No plays are often performed (check with one of the tourist offices for programme details ), look for the Ishikawa-ken History Museum (daily 9am-5pm; Y250) housed in the striking red-brick army barracks buildings, dating from 1910. Among the displays to look out for here is a detailed miniature reconstruction of a samurai parade, a grainy black-and-white film of Kanazawa from the early twentieth century and a reconstruction of a silk-spinning factory.

If you're pressed for time, pass by the small Honda Museum (daily except Thurs 9am-5pm; Y500), with its family collection of robes,

armour and knick-knacks, and the Nakamura Kinen Bijutsukan (daily except Tues 9am-4.30pm; Y300), specializing in tea ceremony objets d'art , in favour of the larger Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art (daily 9.30am-5pm; Y350), where beautiful examples of calligraphy, kimono, pottery, lacquerware and other relics of the Maeda clan are displayed along with a more eclectic collection of contemporary local art. There are usually special exhibitions held here, which cost extra.

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