Putting it simply, it is a 500 years old traditional gathering between a Tea Master and a few invited guests during which time the Tea Master prepares a bowl of matcha tea to be drank by the guests. The ceremony takes place in a bespoke tearoom which is called chashitsu if small and spartan or Grand Tea Room if larger and more sumptuous.

The Ceremony is full of symbolisms and spiritual meanings and an important part of the discovery of Japanese culture.

Tourists visiting Japan do so mainly for a cultural experience. If this choice is what motivated you to visit Japan then the Japanese Tea Ceremony at Ju-An should be ranked at the top of the things you want to do during your visit to Japan, and especially in Kyoto, because the Japanese Tea Ceremony was "invented" in Kyoto.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony is held in the Grand Tea Room inside the Jotokuji Buddhist Temple built under the patronage of Shogun Ieyasu Togunawa in the XIV century.

No! You can attend in your normal travelling clothes. A kimono is not required, but you can rent one, if you wish, from a partner shop located close to us in Gojo Dori.  See our page on KIMONO.

You can attend a group sessions or a private sessions. Whatever is your preference.

The cost for a group session is ¥3300/person and for a private session the price is ¥30000/party. You will find the price when you select the number of persons in our Booking Form . A group session consists of up to 9 guests maximum. A Private Session a maximum of 4 Guests. Children pay half the price or go free depending on their age. Our Booking-Form will indicate the correct prices when you book.

A private session is conducted exclusively for you and this is why it is more expensive.

More details in the Book-Now page of our website.

You can pay by Debit Card or Credit Card directly from our Booking Form. You will also receive a confirmation and receipt of payment.

Chado literally means "the way of tea."

It is a practice profoundly rooted in the philosophy of Wabi. Out of this complex philosophy 4 moral attributes and aesthetic values are applied and practised by followers of Chado. Practitioners of the "Way of Tea" shape their existence around these concepts which are summarised in Harmony, Respect, Purity and Tranquillity. The attainment of these four states reaches its peak in the Ichigo Ichie encounter between host (Tea Master) and honourable visitors.

Chanoyu is the Japanese term for "Performance of the Tea Ceremony." The Chanoyu consists of a beautifully choreographed aesthetic, and intrinsically Japanese, ritual that to Western eyes can appear mesmerising.

To learn more please visit our CEREMONY page or order our book when it is published.

Not al all, far from it, at least not in our Grand Tea Room. If that is the kind of experience you are looking for then you can find cheaper and quicker elsewhere. But if you wish to experience the full significance of this Japanese practice then Ju-An is the choice par excellence and we are respectful followers of the Omotesenke tradition.

Absolutely not. It is a completely secular practice and unrelated to any Buddhist or other religious activity. It is simply a cultural experience of a long Japanese tradition that has become institutionalised and much protected as a quintessential Japanese traditional art.

If you wish to catch a glimpse of Japanese society and its culture, and begin to understand its anatomy of dependence, then the Japanese Tea Ceremony conducted at Ju-An will, uniquely, kick-start you on that uphill road. Then you will discover amusing aspects of Japanese society that are common with those of all other human societies.

Our tour guide of the Jotokuji temple is relevant not because it has a significance with the Tea Ceremony, but because a visit to Kyoto is essentially a cultural visit and Temples and Shrines are a dominant sightseeing venue of your travel itinerary. In out short tour guide we offer some explanations regarding names and structure of basic Temples that we think you would be interested to know as a tourist.

Our emphasis is in showing you the purification process conducted at the purification fountain. Here you will see the way in which Japanese people scrupulously handle the bamboo water-ladle to ensure that their fingermarks are cleansed from the ladle stem ready for the next visitor.

Originally tea was imported into Japan from China via Korea in the IX century. Japan and Korea had a close relationship then. Buddhism spread from China to Korea and consequently to Japan as exchange between Korea and Japan was very high. Buddhism started to take root in Japan. Early Buddhist Japanese monks started to visit China to learn more about Buddhism. They brought back with them tea seeds to grow plants to make tea because it was considered to be a healthy medicine and its practice of tea drinking extended life expectancy.

It was Buddhist temples, therefore, that introduced the practice of tea drinking in Japan. Initially it was confined to the Imperial household and the Buddhist hierarchies. But as tea plants started to grow around Buddhist Temples and taken on by farmers beyond, the price of tea dropped and in the course of time tea drinking became not just a convivial gathering of Zen monks after their meditation practices, but a peoples' favourite drink as it is today.

Over the last 5 centuries, but especially over the last 100 years or so, it has become a secular activity that is completely non-religious, yet retaining this romantic association and reverence for its origins around the Buddhist Temples.

No, that is a misconception in part created by other venues that offer this type of experience to visitors from abroad in a superficial and commercial way.

The Japanese tea ceremony is a way of practising Chado, the "way of tea". It is a cultural experience where you observe intricate gestures with hands and body movements as an artistic performance. Matcha tea is prepared for you as the means to deliver this art performance. The scope of the ceremony is to project calm and serenity of mind, humility and harmony with fellow guests and all that surrounds us.

If you are expecting to find a tea tasting session of different Japanese tea varieties then this is not your venue. We only provide matcha tea which is at the very top of the Japanese tea rankings.