Kanazawa: Private Koicha Ceremony with a Samurai Tea Master

• Receive koicha — thick tea, rarely offered to visitors to Japan • Prepare usucha (thin tea) with your own hands, under the guidance of a tea master of 19 years • Spend 90 minutes as the sole guests in a 1923 machiya — the home where your host Yuta lives and practices • Learn Enshu-ryu, the samurai lineage of tea founded by Kobori Enshu, tea advisor to the Tokugawa shoguns • Taste seasonal jounamagashi, handcrafted the morning of your ceremony by a Kanazawa artisan • Speak openly about tea, aesthetics, or the philosophy of a life devoted to the way — as much as you wish

In the samurai era, koicha was exchanged before battle, shared only among those a master trusted. Today, it is the rarest form of Japanese tea. This 90-minute private ceremony takes place in a 1923 machiya in Kanazawa's Nishi Chaya district — not a venue, not a studio, but the home where your host Yuta lives and practices. Yuta has studied tea for 19 years in Enshu-ryu — the samurai lineage founded by Kobori Enshu, tea master to the Tokugawa shoguns. Restrained, precise, and quietly confident. You will be received as the only guests. Koicha will be prepared for you; you will then prepare usucha with your own hands. Seasonal sweets from a Kanazawa artisan accompany the tea. Between the bowls, there is time. Yuta does not perform tea as theatre — he offers it as conversation. Whether you come with years of study or simple curiosity, the ceremony meets you where you are. By reservation only. Maximum 5 guests. English throughout.

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.