Tourist Facility HAKUKOKAN - See

Decorated with over 10,000 gold leaves, the “Gold-leafed Chamber” is the most gorgeous space you can find in this industry. The gold leaves are deliberately creased before being pasted to produce the delicate balance of light and shadow, resulting in the tasteful ambience. Sitting in the Gold-leafed Chamber is the Golden Armor/Helmet, the precise replica of the possession of the Kaga clan founder, Lord Maeda Toshiie. Known as the style leader with the bold taste, Lord Toshiie is believed to make stunning departure to wars in an entirely gold-leafed armor like this in his time.
Having this Golden Armor/Helmet as the centerpiece, you can witness the tale of Lord Toshiie until the day he entered the Kanazawa Castle shown as the fantastical projection display woven by gold leaves and light in this Gold-leafed Chamber.

After witnessing the historical tale of Lord Maeda Toshiie, you can discover your different self in the Golden Armor/Helmet.
Here, adults and kids can virtually try on the armor/helmet of Lord Toshiie in the monitor.　　The armor/helmet adjusts its size to suit you, so adults appear in the larger size armor/helmet, and kids in the smaller. You are free to take photos, so don’t miss this experience to capture the wonderful memory.

Over 99% of gold leaf in Japan is produced in Kanazawa. In comparison to the gold leaves from around the world, the Japanese gold leaves are renowned as the thinnest and most sparkling ones in the world, proving the quality of Kanazawa’ proud production.
The gold leaves produced by the seasoned craftsmen are as thin as 10 thousandths of a millimeter. So thin that, when held against the light, you can see the opposite side through it. In the learning section, you can see the historical aspect and scientific properties of world-beloved gold leaves in an enjoyable manner with the state-of-art digital arts.

The gold leaf production starts at melting gold bars (blocks) and “alloying”. The bars of alloy is repeatedly rolled out in the pressure roller. Only when they are sufficiently thin, they are pounded into thin leaves again and again. The “pounding” craftsmen to pound metal leaf into thinner film need years of training to perfect their skills. The impressive pounding machine, applying one ton of pressure, operates with huge noise equivalent to the jet aircrafts taking off. You can see the demonstration here.
The final stage of the gold leaf production is the “Transfer” to neatly trim gold leaves into the set size for the crafts use. You can take a close look at the skills of seasoned craftsmen to effortlessly handle gold leaf, so thin to fly away with the weakest air flow, with traditional tools.