"Apprentice Experience" with a World-Class Gardener｜Activities｜VISIT KANAZAWA, JAPAN

"Apprentice Experience" with a World-Class Gardener

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Stand beside a top craftsman for one intensive day — dress in a gardener's formal attire and tend a Kanazawa garden as his apprentice for 8 hours.

■One Day as a Master Gardener's Apprentice

Kanazawa is a city where the history of the Kaga Domain lives on and a beautiful garden culture, crowned by Kenrokuen, is still carefully preserved. One of the gardeners who sustains these gardens is landscape gardener Kurato Fujimoto. He has worked on the maintenance of Kenrokuen, and every year from April to June he travels to the United States, where he is entrusted with protecting the historic cherry trees at the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. National Arboretum.

In this experience, you stand alongside this top professional and work with him as his "apprentice" for a day.

It begins the evening before, when you go to buy the craftsman's formal attire — riding breeches and jika-tabi work footwear (clothing purchases are at your own cost). Work starts at 8:00: pine-needle plucking, trimming and base cutting, using the gardener's own tools — pruning shears, Japanese shears, a saw, fire tongs and a broom — with techniques matched to the season and each tree. Lunch at 12:00 is at the local diner Fujimoto frequents. From 13:00, work resumes through the finishing touches and a thorough cleanup, until you feel the sound of the bamboo broom and the stillness of a transformed garden.

The Ｗay of the Samurai

Information

Organizer: LLC kanazawaza
See All Plans Run by this Travel Operator
Price: 88,000 JPY per person (flat rate, no child price)
Inclusions: equipment rental, activity fee, lunch, transportation
Date: Open July–March; closed April–June
Notes: Closed April–June (gardener caring for cherry trees in the United States)
Time: 8:00〜17:00
Duration: 8 hours (8:00–17:00, plus preparation with the craftsman on the preceding evening)
Departure Point: 98-2 Momosaka-machi Ro, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa
By Public Transportation: From Kanazawa Station East Exit (Bus Stop No. 5), take the JR Bus bound for Morimoto Station to "Momosaka" (15-20 min), then a 2-min walk.
Parking Capacity: 0
Capacity: 1–2 guests
Minimum Participants: １
Reservation: Up to 3 day before
Cancellation: 15+ days before — 5,000 JPY fee only / 14–7 days before — 50% / 6 days to the day — 100%
Website: More versions available here
Website: Gardener : Kurato Fujimoto