A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the late Edo and bakumatsu years: Kenroku-en and Seisonkaku, Zeniya Gohei and Ōno Benkichi, Ishiguro Nobuyoshi and the Toyama medicine trade, revived Kutani and the Haneda insect mound, the Hietsu earthquake of 1858, foreign ships and an Englishman's overland journey through Kanazawa in 1867, and the Kinmon Incident, the Tengu party, the assassination of a Toyama senior retainer, the Utatsuyama development, and the Hokuetsu campaign of 1868.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the early and middle Edo period: Maeda Toshitsune's creation of the Toyama and Daishōji branch domains and his retirement to Komatsu, the Tatsumi Canal, Gyokusen'inmaru garden and other works in Kanazawa, sealed village tax-assessment documents and the transfer of the Hakusan foothill villages to shogunal rule, Maeda Tsunanori's Hyakkō Hishō, Maeda Masatoshi and the Toyama medicine trade, Bashō's journey through Hokuriku in 1689, and the Shōtoku uprising, the Kaga disturbance, and Komatsu's festival floats in the eighteenth century.

A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering the late Sengoku period: the fall of Nanao Castle and the Oda advance into southern Kaga in 1577, Uozu Castle and the Honnōji Incident in 1582, Maeda Toshiie's Kanazawa Castle, the Battle of Suemori in 1584, Sassa Narimasa's journey to Hamamatsu and Hideyoshi's Etchū campaign of 1585, and the Battle of Asainawate at Komatsu in 1600, with later works of fiction and art.

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.