Hosts

Tea Teachers from three Senke Tea Schools who lead the world of Japanese Tea Ceremony at Nara.

Session Details

Dates: 25th to 29th October 2023·

There will be 5 sessions on each day·

Number of participants: 10 guests·

Tea Ceremony Fee: 33,000 Yen/person per session·

Approximate time required for each session: 3 to 3.5 hours

Session Times

25th to 29th October: Five sessions starting at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00

Tea ceremony courses

1) Thin tea with a sweet at Hasedera Honbo ‘Shishinoma’ Japanese room
2) Traditional Cha-kaiseki Japanese cuisine at Hasedera Honbo ‘Okushoin’ drawing hall
3) Thick tea with a sweet at Hasedera Honbo ‘Shoin’ study hall ＊Hasedera Temple tour starts at 10:30 and 14:30. This is an optional tour – you can decide whether to join or not – and will be held in English and conducted by a Buddhist monk and an interpreter.

Please Note: Guests will be guided during the tea gathering by an interpreter and assistant tea host. We ask you to join us wearing plain and clean clothes with a pair of white socks and without any accessories. We will prepare chairs for you. Please advise us if you have any food allergies when you reserve.

Hasedera Temple is located in Hase valley, Sakurai City, which is surrounded by mountains and located in the northern central part of Nara Prefecture.

Hase literally means “long valley”. This location has been known as a holy sanctuary since ancient times, attracting people of all of life, as well as Emperors and Fujiwara aristocrats. The temple is also famous for the various beautiful flowers such as peonies, cherry trees, hydrangeas, new green leaves and the autumn red maples and so on. The temple complex is composed of over 30 buildings. Hasedera temple is the headquarters of the Shingon Buzan sect, which has 3000 affiliated temples. The temple has 60 monks and while you tour the temple, you can see many monks and hear them chanting also they are very friendly and always helpful for the visitors.

In 686 this temple was built for praying recovering for Emperor Temmu. It worked and in 727 the main hall was built.

The Kannon Boddhisattva in Hasedera Temple is told that all prayers are always and quickly granted. Hasedera Kannon worship became so popular that the temple became one of the 33 holy Kannon pilgrimage sites in central western Japan, being known as the 8th temple. So, many people visit the temple all season.