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.