Family-Friendly Cultural Experiences in Japan

Overview

Learn to make intricately detailed wagashi sweets at Wagashi Issho. Located in central Kyoto’s Shijo Karasuma district, this studio is headed by distinguished wagashi artisan Yasue Miyazaki, who will be your instructor for this experience. Lay out and arrange the wagashi you made on a dessert plate to present your handiwork elegantly, then enjoy these delectable confections with premium tea from the award-winning Kyoto tea shop Rishouen. After the experience, you’ll receive a copy of the recipes you just made, for you to try replicating them at home.

Key Features

• Make elaborate traditional sweets at a wagashi-making studio that holds classes in small groups, making it difficult even for Japanese locals to secure a reservation
• A Wabunka-exclusive plan that includes preparation of an original dessert right in front of you — your instructor is an expert at coming up with dessert ideas
• Learn about the tableware, the high-quality Uji tea served with your wagashi and dessert, and other details that further add a touch of elegance to this refined experience

Overview

Experience the wabi-sabi sounds of the shamisen in this Wabunka-exclusive experience. At a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, first learn to play a traditional melody then enjoy an intimate performance from your teacher. The experience is enhanced by the serene atmosphere of a private room within the temple. To conclude, you will be treated to a live performance of shamisen and song by the instructor—a moment to quietly take in the wabi-sabi world woven by sound and season.

Key Features

• Enjoy an intimate live shamisen performance and experience the wabi-sabi spirit at a Buddhist temple
• Learn how to play a traditional shamisen piece
• Explore the essence of Japanese performing arts

Overview

In a private room within this august piece of local architectural history, with a traditional bamboo grove and koi pond as backdrop, guests of this exclusive Wabunka experience can delight in sumptuous fusion fare made from top class local ingredients, and enjoy dinner entertainment from a real Kyoto maiko, or apprentice geisha.

Key Features

• Experience dining with a real Kyoto maiko (apprentice geisha) for lunch or dinner
• Enjoy traditional Kyoto teahouse entertainment, taking in a dance performance and playing ozashiki-asobi parlor games with a maiko, backdropped by Fortune Garden’s gorgeous traditional bamboo grove
• Delight in sumptuous shabu-shabu hotpot and seared beef nigiri sushi made with high brand Wagyu beef and Kyoto pork
• As an optional add-on, have a commemorative photo with the maiko professionally taken in the bamboo grove

Overview

Get hands-on with celebrated traditional Kyoto confectionery. Gourmet artisan Yusuke Nishizawa teaches two styles of sweet creation: fresh and dried. In this exclusive Wabunka experience, enjoy a close-up demonstration of Nishizawa’s skills, honed in the kitchen of one of Kyoto’s top historical confectioners. Afterward, enjoy sweets alongside a cup of matcha freshly brewed by Nishizawa. Discover how Japan’s four seasons and Kyoto’s aesthetics are imbued in the confections themselves.

Key Features

• Learn the art of crafting delicate, elegant Japanese confections from a master at Kyoto confectioner Tokiya
• Enjoy a top-class wagashi demonstration and delight in fresh-made sweets with tea
• Take home your handmade fresh and dried confections, plus Tokiya's original seasonal wagashi

Overview

Takano Chikko – meaning “bamboo workshop” – is situated in Nagaokakyo City, Kyoto Prefecture’s preeminent region for high-quality bamboo production. Here, tea sets and other household utensils are produced through expert crafting and woodworking from sustainably sourced bamboo and recycled temple construction material.
In this experience, learn the craft by creating a set of bamboo chopsticks for yourself at the workshop’s Shop & Gallery Chikubuen, while hearing expert commentary on the historical relationship between bamboo and Japanese culture, Kyoto’s varieties of the plant, and the workshop’s efforts toward a more sustainable society. At the end of it all, delight in seasonal Japanese confectionery and matcha tea prepared in front of you using the workshop’s own handcrafted tea utensils, served in the house’s bamboo dishware.

Key Features

• Craft bamboo chopsticks at Chikubuen, a shop and gallery ensconced in a fairytale bamboo grove, and take them home with you alongside a souvenir chopstick rest.
• Learn all about bamboo, which has seen a huge resurgence in popularity due to its sustainability.
• Delight in traditional Japanese confectionery and matcha tea freshly whisked before you, served in Takano Chikko’s own bamboo artisanal bamboo dishware.

Overview

Experience a private before-hours or after-hours visit to Taizo-in, part of Myoshin-ji, one of Japan’s largest Zen temple complexes. Deputy head priest Daiko Matsuyama, a Zen priest active in Zen Buddhism around the world, is your guide through the temple, its legendary garden, and a zazen meditation experience. This Wabunka original plan offers authentic Zen spirituality with a temple monk in the temple that cherishes seasonal ephemerality.

*From September 20th to December 10th, there will be an additional fee of 50,000 yen per group due to the peak season.

Key Features

• Dive deep into the world of Zen with instruction from Deputy Head Priest Matsuyama, a globally active figure who has met with the former Catholic Pope
• Practice zazen meditation in the august and invigorating air of early morning or evening
• After the experience, enjoy matcha and traditional confections while taking in the garden

Overview

On the grounds of the tranquil Jokokuji Temple in Akasaka, Tokyo is Akasaka Teran, a cooking school where you'll learn all about shojin ryori, Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, from a temple monk. First, learn the Buddhist teachings and mindset behind this cuisine, then make a shojin ryori meal of your own with seasonal ingredients. Enjoy your meal at the temple's main hall, then reflect on the experience over tea and sweets. This healing experience will fill you with a sense of gratitude for the blessings of nature and the people around you.

Key Features

• Learn all about shojin ryori, including the principles and mindset behind it, from a monk of Akasaka's Jokokuji Temple
• With utensils typically used in Japanese cuisine, make a shojin ryori meal in the classic Japanese style of one soup and three dishes — also suitable for vegans
• After savoring your shojin ryori meal at the temple's main hall, enjoy chatting with your instructor over matcha green tea and wagashi sweets

Overview

At the Soto sect’s Mishо̄an training hall inside the Tokyo Grand Hotel in Shiba Park, practice zazen meditation to reharmonize the mind, heart, and physical senses – so often driven out of sync in the day-to-day – while learning the values and philosophy of Zen. Deepen your understanding with written meditation as well, copying sutras personally curated for each participant on the spot by a Buddhist priest. Start afresh with a tranquil respite from the daily grind.

Key Features

• Experience zazen meditation and the written meditation of sutra copying in the crisp air of morning, following the real meditation hall practices of Zen monks.
• A Zen Priest curates sutras for each participant individually.
• Guests can touch and play the Buddhist Musical instruments, usually used in Buddhist practice and ceremony, and only allow the monk to handle them.

Overview

At Namidabashi Oshimaya Chochin, a distinguished shop that has been in business for over 100 years, create your own hand-painted Edo paper lantern: either a traditional lantern or the shop's original Oto Chochin, a modern twist on the paper lantern. Under the guidance of artisan Kenichiro Murata, learn time-honored techniques and use traditional tools to inscribe kanji characters or a design of your liking onto your lantern. Then, right after the experience, take home your finished creation as a tangible reminder of your handiwork.

Key Features

• A Wabunka-exclusive experience in which you'll create your own traditional hand-painted Edo paper lantern or a modern version called Oto Chochin
• Using traditional tools, learn the art of creating Edo paper lanterns directly from an expert artisan who’s the current head of a historical lantern shop
• Recommended for those who want to make a traditional Japanese handicraft a part of their home

Overview

Master craftsman of traditional fireworks Gen Sasaki leads a unique experience where guests can make and set off their own skyrocket and sparkler fireworks under his expert instruction. Experience the charm of traditional Japanese wabi fireworks, made from simple natural materials and feature an understated, minimalist, and monochromatic palette very different from modern multicolored fireworks. Discover the history of this beautiful tradition and through it deepen your understanding of the aesthetic spirit of Japan.

Key Features

• Craft skyrocket fireworks and sparklers under the instruction of a master pyrotechnician who specializes exclusively in the increasingly rare tradition of wabi fireworks
• Revel in the history and beauty of traditional wabi fireworks and the distinct qualities that set them apart from common modern fireworks
• Enjoy the thrill of having fireworks you crafted yourself launched from a riverbed, and take in a professional fireworks display

Overview

Immerse yourself in Japan's rich tea culture at no less than the hometown of the great tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522–1591): Sakai City in Osaka. At Tsuboichi Seicha Honpo, a reputed tea shop in Sakai with a history of over 170 years, enjoy a comprehensive Japanese tea culture experience and savor a tea-based lunch course — complete with a Wabunka-exclusive dessert made with high-grade matcha. Watch skilled tea masters select tea leaves from various regions then roast and blend them right in front of you, and relax with some tea in the tranquility of the 340-year-old traditional building that houses Tsuboichi Seicha Honpo.

Key Features

• Deeply immerse yourself in the world of Japanese tea at a long-running tea shop in Sakai, the hometown of Sen no Rikyu, the great founder of the Japanese tea ceremony
• Enjoy two tea-based welcome drinks; then, after an explanation by a tea master, experience roasting tea leaves yourself, taste and compare different types of tea, and learn to properly brew tea
• Savor a flavorful tea-based lunch that ends with a Wabunka-exclusive dessert made with high-grade matcha, as well as tea leaves and sweets for you to take home

Overview

Kyoto’s Sagano-Arashiyama district is an iconic landmark, beloved by visitors from all over Japan and the world for its harmony of rich natural scenery and historic architecture. Here, the cultural property garden restoration and maintenance organization Sone Zoen – responsible for designing and managing the gardens of famous shrines and temples across Kyoto – runs the “Hogan” facility, which offers visitors the chance to experience authentic Zen sand raking in a traditional Japanese house and garden. Find inner tranquility as you contemplate the garden’s beauty, before experiencing the spirit of Zen and the historic tradition of karesansui dry gardening through sand-raking with a master.

Key Features

• Discover the depths of specialized knowledge behind karesansui dry gardening from one of the master gardeners behind some of Kyoto’s most iconic gardens
• Enjoy a private experience of sand garden raking for yourself, practicing creating patterns under direct expert guidance
• When the experience is complete, enjoy a tea time chat with the master gardener over matcha and sweets while taking in the garden’s beauty

Overview

Founded in 1912, the Mogami Kogei workshop boasts 110 years of Edo sashimono woodworking history. Here in Tokyo’s Kuramae, third-generation proprietor and craftsman Yutaka Mogami will personally instruct you in chopstick making. Choose from a variety of precious woods to shave down and finish with oil into a one-of-a-kind pair of chopsticks. When your chopsticks are finished, take them home in a chopstick box of real Aizu paulownia wood. This is a unique chance to see the workshop and tools of a traditional artisanal woodworker up close.

Key Features

• Learn chopstick making from traditional Edo sashimono craftsman Yutaka Mogami, the third-generation master of Mogami Kogei, or his son and future successor, Ryo Mogami.
• Enjoy a talk on the history and craft of Edo sashimono woodworking in the Mokumasa-an showroom, where Mogami’s works are displayed.
• Exclusively on the Wabunka plan, take your finished work home in a handmade artisanal chopstick box of the highest quality Aizu paulownia wood in Japan. (Engraving available as an option.)

Overview

Experience woodblock printing at a historic Edo print workshop with 160 years of history in the world-famous traditional Japanese art of ukiyo-e. Craft your very own fan while exploring designs inspired by ukiyo-e masterpieces, including works by the famous Edo-era (1603-1867) artist Katsushika Hokusai. Using the techniques of Edo woodblock printing, transfer these intricate patterns onto Japanese washi paper. Your freshly printed washi paper will then be fashioned into a bamboo-handled fan, ready to be handed over to you on the same day. Get hands-on with 400 years of history, and learn this quintessentially Japanese printing technique.

Key Features

• Print with an Edo-style woodblock printing workshop with over 160 years of history.
• Following a lecture from an artisan, create 3-4 colored patterns on rectangular washi paper using Edo woodblock printing, and fashion a bamboo fan
• As a souvenir, you can take home an ukiyo-e print of Katsushika Hokusai or Utagawa Hiroshige carefully crafted by the artisan

Overview

Experience dressing in a high-quality kimono in storied Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo’s traditional garden tea ceremony house – a registered tangible cultural property. An eminent kimono stylist and model Hitomi Ito, born in a Zen temple in the historic Kyoto neighborhood of Gion, will serve as your instructor in the art of dressing in kimonos and wearing them gracefully. After you are prepared, the experience builds to a full-fledged photoshoot with a professional photographer in the hotel’s gorgeous traditional garden. Create an unparalleled memory of your time in Japan, with commemorative photos to look back on.

Key Features

• Dress in a high-quality kimono in the Zangetsu tea ceremony house at Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, and learn both the culture of kimonos and the art of moving gracefully while wearing this traditional garb
• Kimono stylist and model Hitomi Ito, well known through her active media presence, serves as the experience instructor
• Enjoy a commemorative photoshoot by a professional photographer in the hotel’s traditional garden, with photos delivered at a later date