Hanasaku Iroha: real places in Japan

Yuwaku Onsen and the Bonbori Festival

Kanazawa, Ishikawa

A small hot-spring town in the hills above Kanazawa, published as the model town for Hanasaku Iroha. When the series aired in 2011 the residents staged its invented Bonbori Festival for real, with the production committee's cooperation, and it has been held every October since; lanterns light the road so the little god of Yuwaku Inari Shrine can set off for Izumo, carrying visitors' handwritten wishes. Official sources name the town, not individual inns, so treat building-by-building identifications as fan lore.