Kanazawa Station is a terminal station in Kinoshinbomachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. In the plaza outside the Kenrokuen exit stand a wooden gate and a large dome covered in glass. The Tsuzumi-mon Gate and the Motenashi Dome. This is the first sight you take in on arriving in Kanazawa, and because it is in the plaza in front of the station you can look at it any time.
From Tokyo it is about two and a half hours on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, with no transfer along the way. The Hokuriku Shinkansen is the high-speed railway linking Tokyo with the Hokuriku region, and Kanazawa is one of its main stations.
The Tsuzumi-mon Gate, standing in the plaza at the Kenrokuen exit, is a wooden gate about 13.7 meters tall. Its design is shaped after the tsuzumi drum of Noh. Noh is a classical Japanese theater form that took its shape in the 14th century, and the tsuzumi is a small drum struck by hand on that stage.
No steel frame was used. The gate was put together entirely from laminated timber, layers of wood glued face to face, and it was completed in 2005. Ryuzo Shirae, who designed it, chose wood after residents said that Kanazawa needed wooden buildings and black roof tiles.
The glass roof over the plaza is the Motenashi Dome. About 3,019 panes of glass went into it, and not one of them is square. At its highest point it reaches about 29.5 meters.
The City of Kanazawa explains the dome as an act of hospitality, an umbrella held out to people who arrive. The design suits a place with many rainy and snowy days.
After the sun goes down, the dome is lit in the colors of Kaga gosai. Kaga gosai are the five traditional colors of Kanazawa, and the color changes from one day to the next. The lights are on from sunset until midnight.
In 2011 the American travel magazine Travel + Leisure published a list of the world's 14 most beautiful stations. Kanazawa Station was the only station in Japan whose name appeared on it.
On March 14, 2015, the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended as far as Kanazawa. On the day the city gained a direct link with Tokyo, the names of the station exits changed as well.
The east exit became the Kenrokuen exit and the west exit the Kanazawa Port exit. The Tsuzumi-mon Gate and the Motenashi Dome are on the Kenrokuen side. As the name says, the buses for Kenrokuen Garden, the garden Kanazawa is known for, leave from this exit too.
On March 16, 2024, the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended to Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture. Kanazawa is no longer the end of the line but one of the stops on the way toward Fukui.
JR West is not the only railway company running into Kanazawa Station. The IR Ishikawa Railway uses the same station. It took over the conventional lines that were cut off from JR West when the shinkansen opened, and it is funded by local governments and others.
Inside the station is a shopping complex called Kanazawa Hyakubangai. It is divided into sections such as Anto and Rinto, so you can shop and eat without leaving the station.
In Anto, shopping runs from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and dining from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Rinto is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and some stores differ (as of September 2026).
Opening hours can change. The latest information appears in the news section of the official Kanazawa Hyakubangai website.
The address is 1-1 Kinoshinbomachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. The Tsuzumi-mon Gate and the Motenashi Dome are in the plaza just outside the Kenrokuen exit.
The Kanazawa Loop Bus leaves from the bus stops at the Kenrokuen exit. It runs a circuit of the main sights in the city, on two routes, the Right Loop and the Left Loop.
This bus will take you to Kanazawa Castle Park and Higashi Chaya District. Kanazawa Castle Park is the site of the castle of the daimyo who ruled this area in the Edo period, and Higashi Chaya District is an old townscape lined with wooden teahouses.
The Right Loop and the Left Loop stop in the reverse order from each other. Pick the one to ride according to the place you want to reach first.
In the evening there is also a service called the Kanazawa Light-up Bus. Fares and stop numbers are posted on the official website of Hokutetsu, the Hokuriku Railroad, which operates it.
The Kanazawa Station Tourist Information Center is inside the station as well, a place to ask when you cannot decide where to go.
Nippon Sangoku, a manga in which three nations fight over a future Japan where civilization has declined, features this station and the Tsuzumi-mon Gate.
In the Nippon Sangoku Four Cities Tour stamp rally, run by the series' official side and the Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League, the Kanazawa Station Tourist Information Center is one of the places taking part. It is held from May 26 to December 31, 2026.
〒920-0858 1-1, Kinoshinbomachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa
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Open grounds with no fixed opening hours.
Hours verified September 2026
The anime, manga, and games that feature Kanazawa Station in real life.
A travel guide to the real-world locations of Seii, the northern nation in the manga and anime Nippon Sangoku. It tours the actual spots in Niigata and Ishikawa that became settings in the Seii arc, from Shibata Castle and Bandai Bridge to the old teahouse streets of Kanazawa, with the scenes they inspired, what to see on site, and how to get there.
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