Kanazawa’s Origins – The Temple Town Before the Maeda Clan

Illustrated reconstruction of the Oyama Gobo temple town, a self-governed Buddhist community where monks and farmers lived by Ikko-shu teachings.

How Kanazawa began as a Buddhist community in the 16th century.

A People’s Republic around a Temple

Conceptual image：Artistic depiction of Ikko-shu followers gathering for prayer inside a temple hall.

Before the Maeda samurai came, Kanazawa was a religious self-governed town built by followers of the Buddhist sect Ikko-shu.
Their center was the temple Oyama Gobo — where Oyama Shrine now stands.
People lived, farmed, and ruled themselves under Buddhist teachings.
It was sometimes called “the country owned by farmers.”

A natural fortress

3D terrain illustration showing the natural setting of Kanazawa — a plateau between the Sai and Asano rivers that once protected the Oyama Gobo temple town.

The town stood between two rivers and on a plateau — a perfect natural fortress.
The residents built moats and earth walls to protect themselves from samurai armies.
For nearly 30 years, the temple town prospered independently.

The fall of the temple town

Illustrated image depicting the fall of Oyama Gobo, the temple town that once stood on the site of Kanazawa Castle. Flames and chaos mark the end of the Ikko-shu Buddhist republic.

　In 1580, after decades of battles known as the Ikko-Ikki uprisings, the forces of warlord Oda Nobunaga destroyed the temple town.
Soon after, in 1583, Toshiie Maeda built Kanazawa Castle on the same site — and the city’s samurai era began.

　So before the samurai, Kanazawa was a city of faith and community —
a unique experiment in people’s self-rule that laid the foundation for the cultured city we know today.