Ishikawa · Kanazawa PortNo.424★★Open in map →
Kano Snow Crab and Kobako Crab
— Ishikawa's tagged winter snow crab
Ishikawa lands its snow crab under two names. Kano-gani are the males; Kobako-gani are the smaller females carrying roe. Both come ashore in winter, and the fish market beside Kanazawa Port is where the tagged crabs are laid out for anyone to buy.
Kano-gani is the name Ishikawa gives to male snow crab landed by boats from its own harbours. Every crab that qualifies carries a blue tag stamped with the port it came ashore at, so a buyer can read the origin before deciding. The females are sold under a different name, Kobako-gani, and are valued for the roe held inside the shell and under the tail. They are smaller than the males, and their season is far shorter. Kanazawa Port is one of the harbours named on those tags. The market beside it sells the same catch across the counter, together with nodoguro, amaebi and winter yellowtail.
Why it stays quiet
This is not a hidden place. It is a working market that welcomes visitors, and buses run to it from Kanazawa Station. What thins the crowd is the calendar rather than the map: the crab is only here in the cold months, and the female season closes at the end of December.
Background & history
The two names are recent even if the fishery is not. In 2006 the fishing co-operatives across Ishikawa merged into a single prefectural body, and the branded name Kano-gani was chosen by public entry, taking one character each from Kaga in the south of the prefecture and Noto in the north. Kobako-gani is the older, local word for the female crab. The blue tag came with the brand, tying each male crab to the harbour that landed it.
What to look for — in walking order
- Kanazawa Port Cruise Terminal
- a glass-fronted passenger terminal with a roofed observation deck over the working harbour
- Kanazawa Port Ikiiki Fish Market
- the market floor where boat owners and local dealers sell crab, nodoguro, amaebi and winter yellowtail
- Ono soy-sauce district
- lanes of merchant houses and brewery warehouses, some now cafes and galleries
- Ono Karakuri Museum
- a prefectural museum at the harbour mouth devoted to the mechanical craftsman Ono Benkichi
How to enjoy it
Time the trip to the season: males are landed from 6 November to 20 March, females only until 29 December. The market runs from 9:00 to 16:00 and closes on Wednesdays, and the crab counters are at their fullest in the morning, when the night's landings have just been set out. Buy a boiled Kobako-gani to eat as it is, and read the port name on the tag before you pay.
How to actually get there
- Kanazawa Station west exit → Kanazawa Port Cruise Terminal by Hokutetsu bus (terminus, about 30-35 min).
- Cruise Terminal → Kanazawa Port Ikiiki Fish Market on foot (about 5 min northwest along the quay).
- Buy at the crab counters, then walk on into the Ono district for the soy-sauce lanes and the Karakuri Museum (about 15 min).
- Return to the Cruise Terminal stop for the bus back to Kanazawa Station.
- Hokutetsu bus from Kanazawa Station west exit
- Kanazawa Station west exit →(Hokutetsu route bus bound for Kanazawa Port Cruise Terminal, the terminus, about 30-35 min)→ Cruise Terminal, then about a 5 min walk northwest along the quay to the market. Buses on the Ono and Ono-ko routes also serve the area, leaving about a 10 min walk.
- Return from the Cruise Terminal stop
- Walk back to the Kanazawa Port Cruise Terminal stop and take the same route to Kanazawa Station. The market shuts in the late afternoon, so read the departure times posted at the terminal before you start shopping rather than after.
Before you go
- Cash
- The market is free to enter; what you pay is whatever the stalls ask for the day's landings, which moves with the catch. At a hall of independent sellers, cash is the safe assumption.
- Closing days
- Closed on Wednesdays and over the New Year period. The building stands on an open quay, so wind off the sea is part of a winter visit. Crab is seasonal — outside the cold months the counters show other fish instead.
- Another way
- From the Nakabashi bus stop, a 5 min walk from JR Kanazawa Station, Hokutetsu buses run to Ono (about 20 min) and Ono-ko (about 30 min); from either stop the market is roughly a 10 min walk. By car it is about 15 min from Kanazawa Station, and there is a large car park.
- After you get off
- From the Kanazawa Port Cruise Terminal stop, walk northwest along the quay for about 5 min. The market is the low hall set behind its own car park, on the landward side of the road.