Guide · Cooking class

Kanazawa cooking class: sushi, jibuni and rolled omelette

A Kanazawa cooking class lets you take the city's food home in your hands: sushi from market fish, the local duck stew jibuni and a fluffy rolled omelette, then a shared meal.

Check availabilityfrom $45 · cancel at no cost

Editorial team, kanazawafoodtour.comUpdated October 25, 2026Reading time about 6 minutes10 sources

This guide's tour Kanazawa: Sushi & Japanese Cooking at a 56-Year School 5.0 (182 reviews) 2.5 hours from$96per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

Quick answer

01What you cook: Sushi, jibuni and dashimaki tamago.
02Where: A school founded in 1969, near Kanazawa Station.
03Group size: Small groups, up to 8 participants per class.
04Price: From $96, rated 4.97 by 182 reviewers.
05Sushi only?: A 2-hour class inside Omicho Market.

What a Kanazawa cooking class teaches

The Kanazawa cooking class this page recommends covers more than sushi. Over 2.5 hours you learn knife skills for sashimi and shape nigiri sushi with seasonal fish, then make jibuni, the city's duck stew, and dashimaki tamago, the rolled omelette, before sitting down to a shared meal with miso soup and seasonal side dishes.

That mix is the point. Sushi is the draw; jibuni is what makes the class belong to Kanazawa. The tourism association describes jibuni as traditional Kaga cuisine: seasoned duck coated with wheat, with wheat gluten and vegetables in a thick soup.¹ Cooking it yourself explains the texture better than any menu can.

You leave with more than a meal. The listing promises a certificate of completion and souvenir photos taken during the class. It has 182 reviews with a 4.97 rating and a value-for-money score of 4.9 in its breakdown, and it starts from $96. Free cancellation runs up to 24 hours before.

Inside the class

From knife skills to a shared meal

Arrival

Up to the second floor

Into the school's classroom, by the stairs.
Knife work

Sashimi technique

Professional Japanese knives and proper cutting.
Sushi

Shape nigiri

With seasonal fish from Tadamura Suisan.
Kanazawa dishes

Jibuni and omelette

The duck stew and dashimaki tamago.
The end

A shared meal

With miso soup and seasonal side dishes.

The school near Kanazawa Station

The class takes place at Nakata Ryori Gakuen, a cooking school founded in 1969, on the second floor of a 3-story building at 4-13 Konohanamachi, a few minutes on foot from Kanazawa Station. It sits next to a Japanese restaurant called Ajimura, which makes it easy to find, or easy to name to a taxi driver. Look up as you arrive: a display of Japanese knives in the second-floor window marks the classroom, and the walk from the station is short enough to do with luggage stored at your hotel.

It is a working cooking school, and the class is taught by the school's second-generation head. Explanations are supported by translation on a big screen, the instructor speaks Japanese and English, and an audio guide is available in Italian, French, Chinese and Spanish.

Access needs a word of warning. The classroom is on the second floor, there is no elevator, and the class requires stairs. Travelers who find stairs hard should check with the school before booking. Groups are limited to 8 participants. Expect plenty of time at the board yourself rather than watching from the back.

What guests say

Reviews behind each class on GetYourGuide

reviews

Review counts as each GetYourGuide listing shows them; ratings are 4.97, 4.92 and 4.89.

Classes compared

Three Kanazawa cooking classes side by side

Class	Length	You make	Price
School near station	2.5 hrs	Sushi, jibuni, omelette	from $96
Master chef class	1 to 2 hrs	Sushi, tamagoyaki	from $63
Omicho sushi class	2 hrs	Nigiri, gunkan, roll	from $71

Taken from the class listings on GetYourGuide; each price shows where a class starts, not a quote.

Pick your class

A full Kanazawa lesson or a sushi-only class

Full lesson

School near station

Sushi, jibuni, omelette

Length: 2.5 hours
Group: Up to 8
Price: from $96

See this class

Kanazawa Sushi Making Experience with a 50-Year Master Chef

Short lesson

Master chef class

1 or 2 hours

Starts: 11:00 or 14:00
2-hour course: Adds a meal and a drink
Price: from $63

See this class

Kanazawa: Sushi Making Experience at Oumicho Market

Market setting

Omicho sushi class

Inside the market

Length: 2 hours
You make: Nigiri, gunkan, roll
Price: from $71

See this class

Decision helper

Which class should you book?

Choose by time, appetite and dishes

I want Kanazawa dishes, not only sushi I have only an hour I want to cook inside the market I cannot climb stairs I want a meal and a drink included

The school near the station

Sushi plus jibuni and dashimaki tamago, then a shared meal.

The master-chef beginner course

A 1-hour course with sushi rice, tamagoyaki and nigiri.

The Omicho sushi class

At the Sushi Enome restaurant in Omicho Market.

Ask before booking

The school's classroom is on the second floor with no elevator.

The 2-hour master course

It adds sushi by the master, tempura or sukiyaki and a drink.

The stew also incorporates vegetables like shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and Fu (wheat gluten), adding layers of flavour and texture.

Japan National Tourism OrganizationSource 2

Fish from Omicho Market

The fish comes from the market. The listing says the class uses premium seasonal fish from Tadamura Suisan at Omicho Market, a name you will also find on the market's own list of fresh fish shops.³ In other words, you cook with the market's seasonal fish, which changes through the year.

That ties the class to everything else you eat in town. JNTO says sushi restaurants near Omicho buy their fish directly from the market, sometimes up to twice a day, and the class draws on the same counters.⁴ Omicho has more than 170 stores, many of them fishmongers selling seafood from the Sea of Japan.⁵

If you have time, walk the market before your class. Look at what is on ice, ask a fishmonger what is in season, and you will recognize the fish when it appears on your cutting board. The market is a 15 to 20 minute walk or a short bus ride from Kanazawa Station.⁶

Checklist

Before your cooking class

Book

Tell the school about allergies when booking
Check stairs if mobility is limited
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before

Bring

Clothes you can cook in
Arrive a little early
Room for the meal at the end

Cost calculator

Price a cooking class for your group

Enter your group size to compare the classes.

School near station2.5 hoursfrom $96 Master chef class1 to 2 hoursfrom $63 Omicho sushi class2 hoursfrom $71

People 2

Total from$191

from, per person $96

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Totals: the cheapest GetYourGuide price of each listing, multiplied by your head count and converted with the ECB's euro reference rate for today; only checkout is binding.

Video

Kanazawa's kitchen secrets, from the agriculture ministry

The player loads on your tap, not before.

Jibuni and rolled omelette: the local part

Jibuni is the dish to pay attention to. JNTO explains that the duck is coated in flour or starch and simmered in a dashi of kombu and bonito, with shiitake, bamboo shoots and fu, a wheat gluten.² The tourism association says the name is said to come from the jibu-jibu sound of the simmering broth.⁷

The broth is where Kanazawa's history shows. The tourism association says kombu brought by the Kitamae ships from Hokkaido transformed the city's cooking, and that kombu dashi is the base of dishes like jibuni.⁸ Learning to coat the meat and keep the broth glossy is a skill you can use at home with chicken if duck is hard to find. Write down the order of the steps as you go: the coating, the broth and the timing are what make the dish, and they are easy to forget a week later.

Dashimaki tamago, the rolled omelette, is the lighter lesson on the list. Thin layers of egg seasoned with dashi are rolled one over another in a square pan until they form a soft, fluffy block. Expect a few lopsided attempts before the roll holds its shape; the instructor's tips make the difference.

Sushi-only classes at Omicho and with a master chef

If sushi is all you want, there are shorter classes. At the Sushi Enome restaurant inside Omicho Market, a 2-hour class has you make 5 pieces of nigiri, 2 of gunkan-maki and 1 roll with a professional chef, then eat them. It starts from $71, with 14 reviews and a 4.89 rating, and the instructor speaks Japanese.

Another class is run by a sushi chef with 50 years of experience. The 1-hour beginner course covers sushi rice, watching a fish being filleted, tamagoyaki, a decorative bamboo-leaf cut and 4 pieces of nigiri with a roll; the 2-hour master course adds sushi made by the master, tempura or sukiyaki and a drink.

That class starts at 11:00 or 14:00, from $63, with 30 reviews and a 4.92 rating. Children pay the adult rate, and the seasonal fish varies. Choose it for a short, focused lesson; choose the school near the station for a broader taste of Kanazawa home cooking.

Booking: diets, clothing and timing

Tell the school about food allergies or anything you cannot eat when you book; requests made on the day may not be possible. Fish is central to every class on this page; with a strict fish allergy, ask before you pay rather than hoping the kitchen can adapt.

Dress for a kitchen. The Omicho class asks you to wear comfortable clothing suitable for cooking and to arrive 10 minutes before it starts. Tie back long hair, leave rings in your bag, and wear closed shoes that grip a wet floor. Bring a hair tie and leave bulky bags at the hotel.

Timing is flexible on most classes. The master-chef class starts at 11:00 or 14:00, while the others show their times on the availability check. With all three, payment can wait, and backing out at least a day before the class brings your money back in full.

Making a day of it

A class pairs well with a walk. Our recommended food walk spends 1 hour in Omicho Market and 45 minutes in the Higashi Chaya District, with food paid as you go. Do the walk in the morning to see the market and taste a few things, and cook in the afternoon with the flavors fresh in mind.

Kanazawa has other hands-on food workshops too. In winter, Shijimaya-Honpo, founded in 1875, lets you make kabura-zushi, yellowtail pressed between turnip slices with koji, in November and from January to March.⁹ For something you cannot eat, gold leaf shops run short workshops where you decorate a plate or chopsticks and take it home immediately.¹⁰

Whatever you choose, keep your certificate and your notes. Jibuni is easy to recreate at home once you have made it with a teacher, and the rolled omelette improves with practice. Kanazawa's food is generous with visitors who want to understand it, and a class is a direct way in.

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