Kenrokuen is one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, a strolling pond garden built over roughly two centuries by successive lords of the Kaga domain. Its name means "garden of six attributes" — spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, water features, and panoramic views — and it is designated a Special Scenic Site. Highlights include the iconic two-legged Kotoji lantern, Kasumigaike Pond, and the…

The garden's origins trace to 1676, when the fifth domain lord Maeda Tsunanori created a garden within Kanazawa Castle. Successive lords expanded and improved it, and the twelfth lord Maeda Narinaga undertook large-scale construction in 1804, laying the foundation of the garden's present form. After…