Kyoto: Kimono Tea Ceremony Experience · near Gion

How it runs

1. 1Choose from more than 200 kimono designs; staff dress you, and women also get a simple hair set. Dressing the whole group takes around 45 minutes.
2. 2In a quiet tea room an instructor walks you through the etiquette and shows how matcha is whisked with a bamboo chasen — then you make and drink your own bowl, with wagashi from a Kyoto confectioner more than a century old.
3. 3The tea itself takes about 30 minutes, so the standard session runs about an hour and a half. The calligraphy option adds roughly 30 minutes with brush and ink, for about 2 hours in all.
4. 4At the end you change back into your own clothes (about 15 minutes) — the kimono stays at the tea house.

Good to know

• Maiko session: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays only, starting between 12:00 and 15:00. A Gion maiko — long darari obi, seasonal flower hairpins, white make-up — prepares the tea in front of you. Come on time: latecomers may miss it.
• Groups stay small: at most 5 guests for the standard session, 3 for tea and calligraphy, 10 for the maiko session.
• Book by noon the day before. Gion Orizuruya is a 7-minute walk from Keihan Gion-Shijo Station and about 10 minutes from Hankyu Kyoto-Kawaramachi.