Golden leafs are pieces of gold that are spread to maximum thinness, they are used for decoration of artworks. In the Edo period (1603-1867) the Shogunate was very severe about the control of gold and silver usage.

But in Kanazawa they used different tricks like lowering the purity of gold, anyways trying to continue making golden leafs in secret. For one period of time this art was under the threat of extinction. But since the making of golden leaf in Edo was completely ceased and since Kanazawa's golden leaf technique's heights, suitable climate conditions and water were well-known throughout the country, they managed to establish the base for future golden leaf making.

Nowadays Kanazawa's golden leaf making takes more than 98% of all of the national making, and for silver and brass it is as much as 100%. Kanazawa's golden leafs have 3 unique characteristics: they are not oxidized, they do not change color, they do not rot, and so they are widely used in home altars, folding screens, cloth dyeing, houses decoration, exterior and for many works of art. They became a really irreplaceable material.