11:00 / 12:30 / 14:00
Museum admission not included
In English, with Japanese support
One day only
Friday, November 13, 2026 — 11:00, 12:30 and 14:00
JPY 15,000 per person, tax included · 60 minutes · up to 15 guests per session · ages 10 and up
The idea
An hour to slow down, through all five senses.
A tea ceremony is not a lecture about tea. It is an hour in which the sound of water, the weight of a bowl and the taste of a sweet are allowed to take up all of your attention. This session gives you that hour, and then puts the whisk in your hand.
The spirit of tea
Before anything is served, Soukou Kuba introduces the history of the Japanese tea ceremony and the spirit behind it, known as the “heart of tea”, weaving in the story of Kujo-kan.
A demonstration, in quiet
Watch a bowl of tea being prepared in the Urasenke manner. The room goes still enough to hear the kettle and the whisk, and to notice how each movement is made.
A teacher who speaks your language
Soukou Kuba, an associate professor of the Urasenke school, has introduced tea to people from more than 20 countries. In this session, everything is explained in English, so nothing is lost in translation.
A room that is usually closed
Kujo-kan, the former reception hall of the Kujo family of court nobles, stands in the museum garden and is not open to visitors. For this session, you take tea inside it.
The session
Five parts, sixty minutes.
You begin by watching and listening, then taste, then make a bowl of matcha yourself.
Welcome, and a word on tea
Soukou Kuba welcomes you and outlines the hour ahead, then talks about the history of the tea ceremony and its spirit, weaving in the story of Kujo-kan.
Watch a bowl being made
Tea is prepared in front of you. Listen for the water coming to the boil and the sound of the whisk, and follow each movement as it is made.
Seasonal sweets and matcha
Enjoy a seasonal nerikiri sweet with a bowl of matcha.
Whisk your own matcha
Following Soukou Kuba’s guidance, you take up a bamboo whisk and make a bowl of matcha yourself. Dry sweets are planned to go with it.
Questions, and a photograph
Look back on the hour and ask anything you like about tea. The session closes with a commemorative photograph.
About the sweets
The nerikiri is made for the season, so it may not look like the one in our photographs. The dry sweets served with your own bowl are planned to be fu-no-yaki and wasanbon sugar sweets. Ingredients are listed under Before joining.
Tea with Koshinan
- The photographs on this page, other than those of Kujo-kan, were taken at other places, not at Kujo-kan. They are for illustration: the sweets, bowls and utensils on the day may differ.
- The steps above show the order of the session; the time spent on each may vary.
The building
Kujo-kan.
A room built for Kyoto court nobility, opened for an hour of tea.
Five historic buildings stand in the Tokyo National Museum garden. Three are tea rooms and one is a temple study hall. Kujo-kan alone was the residence of a court family.
The room began inside the grounds of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, as part of the residence of the Kujo family. It was later rebuilt at the family’s villa in Akasaka, and in 1934 came here, to the museum garden, given by Kujo Michihide.
The Kujo were kuge — court nobility, not samurai, and one of the five families from which the emperor’s regents were chosen.
It is not, strictly, a teahouse but a shoin-style reception room: two rooms of ten tatami mats with a veranda on every side. Above the doors, a transom cut from a single plank of Chinese quince into openwork wisteria lozenges. On the alcove panels, a landscape with pavilions attributed to the Kano school.
- Origin
- Kujo residence, Kyoto Imperial Palace grounds
- Relocated
- Kujo villa, Akasaka → museum garden, 1934
- Structure
- Single-storey timber, hipped tile roof, 15m × 10m
- Rooms
- Two rooms of ten tatami, encircling veranda
- Alcove
- Landscape with pavilions, attributed to the Kano school
- Transom
- Openwork wisteria lozenges, single Chinese quince plank
The museum garden is open throughout the year, but its historic buildings are not open to visitors. Entry to Kujo-kan is for booked guests only.
The teacher
Soukou Kuba.
Associate Professor of the Urasenke School of Tea Ceremony, Koshinan.
Soukou Kuba spent student years in Malaysia and Singapore, and went on to work in international sales at Mitsubishi Motors. While living in Thailand, Soukou Kuba was a member of the Urasenke Bangkok Association.
As head of the tea ceremony group in an international youth exchange programme organised by Japan’s Cabinet Office, Soukou Kuba introduced Japanese tea culture to young people from abroad and to embassy representatives, and has since shared it with people from more than 20 countries.
Together with family, Soukou Kuba runs Koshinan, which holds tea classes, tea experiences and tea gatherings for guests from Japan and around the world. At Kujo-kan, Soukou Kuba leads the session in English, with Koshinan staff alongside.
- Title
- Associate Professor, Urasenke School of Tea Ceremony
- Koshinan
- Tea classes, tea experiences and tea gatherings, run as a family
- Koshinan sessions
- Embassy of Malaysia, Tokyo (Nov 2024) · J. F. Oberlin University, for international students (Mar 2025) · Former Tomizawa Residence, Tama (Apr 2025) · La Kagu, Kagurazaka (May 2025)
Who this is for
For anyone who wants to sit, and taste, and listen.
No knowledge of tea is needed. Visitors from abroad, residents of Japan and Japanese guests are all welcome.
First-timers
Never held a tea bowl? Every step is explained, and you make your own bowl of matcha before you leave.
Travellers to Japan
Hear about the tea ceremony directly from a tea teacher, in English, rather than through an interpreter.
Anyone who needs a pause
An hour of quiet in the garden of Japan’s national museum, a few minutes from its galleries.
Location
Finding Kujo-kan.
Kujo-kan stands in the museum garden, behind the main gallery building — a few minutes on foot from the Main Gate.
13-9 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8712, Japan
Show the Japanese line above to a taxi driver.
- JR
- 10 minutes’ walk from Ueno Station (Park Exit) or Uguisudani Station
- Tokyo Metro
- 15 minutes’ walk from Ueno Station (Ginza or Hibiya line), or Nezu Station (Chiyoda line)
- Keisei Line
- 15 minutes’ walk from Keisei Ueno Station
- Entrance
- Visitors enter through the Main Gate only
- Enter at the Main GateThis is the only visitor entrance. If you have not bought a museum ticket, the ticket counter is inside the Main Gate Plaza, just here.
- Honkan is straight aheadThe long gallery building facing you is Honkan, the Japanese Gallery. Toyokan, the Asian Gallery, stands to your right.
- Enter the garden beside ToyokanWalk towards Toyokan and follow the path into the garden, which lies behind Honkan.
- Kujo-kanA single-storey wooden building under a tiled roof, with a veranda running around it. We will be waiting for you there.
Allow about ten minutes from the Main Gate, including the ticket check. Museum admission is JPY 1,000 for adults, JPY 500 for university students, and free for visitors under 18 and over 70 — it is not included in the session fee. Diagram not to scale.
Booking
Available sessions
- Session times: 11:00–12:00, 12:30–13:30 and 14:00–15:00.
- Free to cancel until the day before. A 100% fee applies for same-day cancellation or no-show.
- Solo travellers are welcome. One booking is enough — your session runs even if you are the only guest.
- Coming with someone who only wants to watch? A companion who comes along only to watch is not charged.
Details
Before joining
- Venue
- Kujo-kan, in the garden of the Tokyo National Museum, Ueno, Tokyo — how to find it
- Date and times
- Friday, November 13, 2026 — 11:00–12:00, 12:30–13:30, 14:00–15:00
- Language
- Led in English by Soukou Kuba, with Japanese where helpful. Koshinan staff can guide Japanese-speaking guests in Japanese
- Group size
- Up to 15 guests per session. Minimum one guest
- Who can join
- Ages 10 and up
- Fee
- JPY 15,000 per person, tax included. There is no child rate: a child who takes part pays the full fee. Someone who comes along only to watch is not charged
- What you do
- Learn about the history and spirit of tea, watch a tea demonstration, enjoy a seasonal nerikiri sweet with matcha, and whisk your own bowl of matcha
- What to wear
- Anything you like. There is no dress code
- Provided
- Tea utensils, sweets and matcha
- Sweets and allergies
- We are unable to adjust the sweets for individual allergies or dietary needs. Please check the ingredients below before booking.
Nerikiri (served with matcha): white bean paste (white kidney beans), smooth red bean paste (azuki), shiratamako rice flour, sugar, food colouring.
Fu-no-yaki (planned, with your own bowl): glutinous rice (Japan), sugar, wasanbon sugar, miso (contains soybeans), starch syrup, starch, emulsifier, colouring (gold leaf, red radish colour).
Wasanbon sugar sweet (planned, with your own bowl): wasanbon sugar (made in Kagawa), starch, colouring (Red No. 3, Red No. 102, Red No. 106, Blue No. 1, Yellow No. 4).
The nerikiri changes with the season and may differ from our photographs - Check-in
- Please arrive at Kujo-kan 15 minutes before your session begins
- Museum admission
- JPY 1,000 for adults, JPY 500 for university students, free for visitors under 18 and over 70. Not included in the session fee — please buy your ticket at the Main Gate
- Luggage
- The museum does not admit suitcases. If you are travelling with one, please leave it in a coin locker at the station
- Booking
- Please use the booking button for your session
- Cancellation
- Free until the day before. A 100% fee applies for same-day cancellation or no-show