Special Experience
Kyoto
Relaxing Tea Ceremony with Exclusive Treats from a Historical Kyoto Confectioner
Overview
Kyoto Confectioner Sasaya-iori has been in business for over 300 years. In its tearoom located on the ground floor (shopping area) of Hotel Emion Kyoto, you can learn the basic manners of tea ceremony and enjoy matcha and traditional confections exclusive to this Wabunka plan. Your instructor will guide you step-by-step through tea ceremony etiquette so that beginners and veterans alike can soak up the authentic traditional experience. Afterward, delight in a luxurious treat of parfait or mamekan agar jelly at the modern tearoom-fusion counter seats. This is a rare opportunity to dive into the rich depths of Japanese culture through tea ceremony and sweets.
Key Features
・Relaxed tea ceremony with matcha and traditional sweets, in a tearoom located on the ground floor of the hotel
・Wabunka-exclusive special sweets from a historical wagashi traditional sweet shop served alongside a talk on their historical origins and how best to enjoy them
・Bespoke at Sasaya-iori’s villa with a specially-prepared parfait or mamekan agar jelly dessert and choice of drink
*Please note that the tearoom is located inside the hotel’s shopping floor facing the corridor.
*Participants may hear other guests, even within the tearoom.
*For those who want to enjoy traditional Japanese sweets might be interested in this related plan:
Learn to Craft Traditional Japanese Sweets (Manju and Warabi-mochi) at a Historic Kyoto Confectioner
Kyoto
from
¥25,000 /person
1 - 6 participants
90 min
Available in English
Cancel free up to 4 days before
* If fewer than 2 participants, the minimum fee will be JPY 50,000
Details
Sasaya-iori Villa Annex, Brainchild of 10th Generation Proprietress and Confectionery Purveyor Miyuki Tamaru
In 1716, confectioner Ihei Sasaya from Ise set up shop in Kyoto. His business Sasaya-iori went on to make sweets for shrines, temples, tea ceremony masters, and even the Imperial Palace. Today, this beloved three-century-old confectionery is such a fixture that there is nary a soul in the neighborhood who is not familiar with it. Its handmade offerings are popular as tea ceremony fare, souvenir gifts, presents for special occasions, and everyday snacks.
Sasaya-iori Villa Annex was created by Miyuki Tamaru, the 10th generation master of Sasaya-iori confectionery. Its delightful cafe space, located on the ground floor (shopping area) of Hotel Emion Kyoto, offers up a wide range of fare, including Western-style desserts, lunch, and afternoon tea snacks.
The Sasaraan Teahouse, an Authentic Urasenke Tea School Design
Tearoom Sasaraan opened in the summer of 2023 alongside Sasaya-iori’s Villa Annex within Hotel Emion Kyoto. To ensure utmost authenticity, the Urasenke Tea School supervised its construction down to the very materials. Accredited professional instructors will take you through the steps in a precious opportunity to learn all about the rich traditions of tea ceremony and traditional Japanese confectionery from passionate experts at the top of their fields.
At the beginning, you will learn the significance of the anteroom, the garden, and how to enter through the nijiriguchi half-door: a traditional design feature that requires all visitors, regardless of social status, to enter with humility and leave the outside world. Follow your instructor’s model as you enter, gracefully climbing onto the tatami mats to enjoy a cup of matcha.
A Deep and Considered Look at the Traditional Tearoom, which Embodies its Master’s Philosophy
Tearooms, intended for tea masters to entertain their guests, are built with features that set them apart from more general purpose traditional Japanese rooms, and your instructor will explain this structural uniqueness and its historical origins. The wall scroll and flower display in the tokonoma alcove are a message from the master, welcoming guests to enjoy their time here. For example, budding blossoms symbolize hope and potential. The owner wishes for the life force of these flowers blossoming with the passage of time to reach the hearts of guests as a joyful vitality.
Traditionally, tea ceremony guests would ask questions and the tea master answer, but in this experience your instructor will talk you through each nook and cranny of the ceremony with highly accessible explanations, creating an atmosphere that welcomes the absolute beginner as well as curious questions that might be harder to ask with a larger group. Feel free to enquire about whatever comes to mind.
The Art of Sipping and Snacking in Authentic Tea Ceremony, at a Storied Historical Confectioner’s Shop
After a chance to fully take in the tearoom, relax with a cup of matcha and a seasonal traditional confection made exclusively for this Wabunka plan.
As a confectionery specialty shop, Sasaya-iori has long offered its delectable treats to all levels of society, counting shrines, temples, tea ceremony masters, and even the Imperial Palace among its loyal customers. Enjoy a talk on the etiquette of eating these confections, such as how to handle the kashikiri pastry knife and kaishi serving paper, alongside delightful tales that only a centuries-old establishment can share.
Warmth and Welcome in Every Detail
Sasaya-iori serves an original matcha blend alongside its signature sweets. A variety of matcha drinking bowls are prepared for every season. Many people may know that in tea ceremony, the bowl is rotated two clockwise quarter-turns before being drunk from, but even those who have seen this before may not know that this is intended to turn the “front” of the decorative pattern outward and away from the mouth while drinking.
Tea ceremony is full of dos and don’ts, but a little knowledge of the historical background and reasons behind this customary etiquette will make them feel much more familiar, and help you get to the real central spirit of the rituals, which is all about hospitality.
Sasaya-iori’s Villa Annex Signature Menu with Special Seating
When the tea ceremony is finished, delight in a parfait or mamekan bean agar jelly dessert at Sasaya-iori’s Villa Annex. The counter seating where this dessert is served is specially designed to mimic the aesthetics of a traditional tearoom, decorated with various special Sasaya-iori historical paraphernalia, including scrolls of calligraphy by the elders of the Imperial Family’s own family mausoleum temple Sennyuji.
The Sasaya-iori parfait, so good it bears the shop name proudly, is an exquisitely thrilling little concoction of sweet bean paste, jelly, granola, shiratama mochi balls, and more crowned with the kanji character sasa, or bamboo leaf, from the shop’s name. Sasaya-iori’s Villa Annex makes its ingredients, including the adzuki red bean paste and agar, artisanally from scratch.
Sasaya-iori’s mamekan dessert is an agar jelly dessert with sweet red field peas, topped with a mild-sweet black syrup. Choose your drink pairing from options like yuzu citrus soda or matcha tea latte.
Another Look at Japan’s Culture through Sweets and Tea Ceremony
Proprietress of Sasaya-iori Miyuki Tamaru holds seminars on such topics as traditional hospitality, Kyoto confectionery traditions, and etiquette. She hopes to make this charming side of Japanese culture known to a wider audience, and has been finding her efforts well-received. “I want these to be opportunities for guests to become better acquainted with Japanese culture, and think to themselves, ‘this really is a wonderful country.’” She sees the history and ritual etiquette of tea ceremony as a perfect subject to do this with, and as you experience this moment of spiritual repose and appreciation for the beauty of life, handed down in Japan from generation to generation, you will no doubt see why.
Sasaya-iori
Sasaya-iori
Founded in 1716, Confectioner Sasaya-iori has over 3 centuries of history behind its main Kyoto store. In 2020, it opened its villa annex on the first floor of the Hotel Emion Kyoto, conceived of and brought to fruition by its 10th generation proprietress Miyuki Tamaru. Today, the store continues to both promote the traditional charms of Japanese confectionery as well as innovate on them, such as by expanding its cafe to cater to Japanese and Western tastes alike.
Location
Hotel Emion KYOTO
Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto
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November 2024
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Experience fee
Minimum fee JPY 25000 × 2 participants
JPY 50,000
*Minimum: 2 participants; JPY 25,000 × 2 will be charged for bookings below the minimum.
Price may change after date is selected.
Additional options fee
Interpretation in English
JPY 0
Other
Service fee (5%)
JPY 2,500
Total Price
JPY 52,500
tax & service fee incl.
Extra charges may apply for the following
- ・Interpretation / Dependant on experience schedule and language
- ・Optional add-ons / Souvenirs, delivery, etc.
Kyoto
from
¥25,000 /person
1 - 6 participants
90 min
Available in English
Cancel free up to 4 days before
* If fewer than 2 participants, the minimum fee will be JPY 50,000
Things to know
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