The sushi counter hidden in the lanes of the Higashi Chaya district — a one-month window, a hinoki counter of eight, and Kanazawa's crab in its season.
By SHOKU NOREN TeamFacts last verified September 2026How we check
In shortEdomae sushi on Kanazawa fish — nodoguro hand rolls, kobako crab, kano-gani — at an eight-seat hinoki counter in the Higashi Chaya district. You can book it online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request the table for you.
Price
Lunch nigiri ¥8,800, lunch omakase ¥16,500, dinner omakase ¥19,800, tax included; crab-supplemented courses ¥22,000 / ¥27,500 in season
Mitsukawa sits at the end of a maze of lanes behind the Higashi Chaya
district, in a converted townhouse whose latticed front glows onto the
stone paving at night. Inside is a counter cut from a 200-year‑old
hinoki, a woven‑paper ceiling and a floor of Komatsu stone, and eight
stools. The house moved here in 2010 and has since opened sister
counters elsewhere.
Tabelog placed it among its top 100 sushi houses in western Japan in
2021. The fish comes from Omicho Market each morning, direct from Nanao
port on the Noto peninsula, and via Tsukiji, and it is served on
cutting‑board plates of Kanazawa’s Ohi ware.
What you eat
Edomae technique on Hokuriku fish, and three signatures the house
names itself: a nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch) hand roll all year, a
kano‑gani snow‑crab hand roll from 8 December to 20 March, and a
kobako‑gani chirashi — the female crab, roe and all — from 7 November
to 31 December. Lunch is a nigiri course at ¥8,800 or the omakase at
¥16,500; dinner is the omakase at ¥19,800, tax included, and in crab
season both omakase courses have a crab‑supplemented version (¥22,000
at lunch, ¥27,500 at dinner) until 20 March. Sake is local — Kaga‑tobi,
Tengu‑mai — with Alsace and grower Champagne on the wine list. You
choose your course when you book.
The booking reality
The house takes reservations by phone in Japanese or through its web
form, and its rules are short: bookings open one month ahead, no
earlier, and close three business days before the date; the course
is named at booking; children must be 11 or older. Wednesday is the
fixed rest day and the house posts further closures on a calendar,
which we check before calling. The phone goes unanswered during service.
Because the window is only a month, there is no distant release day to
plan around — the calculation is simply to book when your date first
appears. Eight seats fill, but Tabelog reviewers have picked up a
weekday same‑day lunch by phone (nigiri course only). Our desk calls
in Japanese and settles the course with the house at the same time.
You can book it online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request it for you. Request this table →
Go if you
Travelers staying near the Higashi Chaya district who want a proper
sushi counter within walking distance of their ryokan, and anyone in
Kanazawa between November and March who wants the crab in sushi form
rather than boiled on a ryotei tray. If you were shut out of the city’s
famous monthly‑release counters, this one‑month window is the
practical alternative.
Free release-date alerts: the day before, on the morning of release day (08:00 JST) and about 30 minutes before when the time is known — or a weekly summary if the house opens a little every day.
Sushi Mitsukawa Kanazawa: common questions
Can you book Sushi Mitsukawa Kanazawa from abroad?
Yes. Phone in Japanese or the web form; opens one month ahead, closes three business days before. You can book online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request the table for you; our ¥6,000-per-seat fee is charged only if we confirm your table.
Some of these links are referral links: if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Restaurants never pay us to be listed or ranked. Editorial policy
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