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Experience a rare full chaji tea ceremony and meal, as transmitted by a great master of the Urasenke tea school
Mie Prefecture
This premium tea ceremony experience in Matsusaka City takes place at the site where a pivotal part of tea ceremony history unfolded centuries ago. Participants are invited to participate in one of Japan’s oldest forms of hospitality, the most official tea ceremony known as chaji, at the Takegawa Estate (also known as the Izawa Library) where seventh generation Matsusaka merchant Takegawa Chikusai learned from eleventh generation Urasenke Tea Master Gengen-Sai.
The distinct characteristics of the chaji ceremony are derived from the customs of zen temples, with a meal consisting of one bowl of soup and three side dishes served with three types of sake, followed by one cup each of thick and light tea. During our experience, guests are served a reimagined menu, consisting of one bowl of soup, five side dishes, and two selections of sake.
Here, you will have the rare opportunity to experience this unique reflection of Japanese culture in a feast of the senses: listening to the sound of water droplets in stone basins resonating in the traditional garden Roji and smelling the incense wafting through the 300-year-old Yosazura-en tea room—decorated with tea scrolls and an array of ancient utensils waiting to be viewed.
How to get there
From Nagoya Station, take the JR Rapid Train Kaisoku Mie or the Kintetsu Limited Express to Matsusaka Station (about 1 hour 10 minutes).
Takekawa House (Isawa Bunko) is about 20 minutes by taxi from Matsusaka Station.
284-1 Izawa-cho, Matsusaka-shi, Mie-ken
