A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the Muromachi period: the Kaga shugo Togashi and the Chōkyō uprising of 1488, Rennyo and the Honganji temple network across Kaga and Etchū, the Kanazawa Midō of 1546 and the first documented use of the name Kanazawa, the Jinbō castles at Toyama and Masuyama, and Komatsu's Ataka harbour, Kaga-ware kilns, and Hasadani mountain castle.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the Kamakura period: the Hokuriku front of the Jōkyū War of 1221 and the Nagoe shugo line, the layers of tradition behind the Ataka barrier and Kanjinchō, Kamakura-period artifacts of Tateyama worship, and Shinran's Jōdo Shinshū in later Hokuriku history.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the Heian period: the founding of Kaga Province in 823, a governor's working visit recorded in the Tamefusa-kyō-ki, the rise of Hakusan and Tateyama worship, and the 1183 Battle of Kurikara Pass that pushed the Hokuriku road onto the national stage.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the Nara period: the Etchū provincial capital and Ōtomo no Yakamochi's Man'yō poems, the Tōdai-ji estate maps, Bohai envoys on the Japan Sea coast, and why the written record differs so much across the three areas.

A travel note for Komatsu, Kanazawa, and Toyama that organizes the Asuka period, the spread of Buddhism and writing culture, and the archaeological evidence for settlement, production, administration, ritual, and tomb change in the three cities.

The first Hokuriku history-and-culture note for our upcoming trip to Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu, bringing together the key sites, Toyama's shakoki-dogu, and the archaeological context from the Paleolithic, Jomon, Yayoi, and Kofun periods.