“Hanayome Noren” (Bridal Curtains) Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture

The town of Nanao in Ishikawa Prefecture is known for its Seihaku Festival, one of the events collectively inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016. Some 50 picturesque shops line Ippon-sugi Dōri, a street in the historic old town that dates back more than 600 years. The old-fashioned storefronts lend a touch of authentic antiquity to the festival scene.

Hanayome noren, or “bridal curtains,” have been part of local tradition since the mid-nineteenth century. At her nuptials, a bride passes through a curtain hung at the butsuma room where the Buddhist altar is placed and where the ceremony will take place. At Hanayome Noren-kan, the Bridal Curtain Museum, brightly colored curtains made over some 150 years from the Meiji period (1868–1912) to the present day are on display.

Hanayome Noren-kan (Bridal Curtain Museum)

• Address:49 Tsubu, Madatsu-machi, Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture
• Access: 8 minutes on foot from Nanao Station on the JR Nanao Line
• Hours: 9 am to 5 pm