Nerikiri Workshop at Kujo-kan — a historic room in the Tokyo National Museum garden, normally closed to the public

An Autumn Garden
in Wagashi

Step inside Kujo-kan, a historic residence associated with the Kujo family, and shape a piece of nerikiri inspired by an autumn Japanese garden. Then whisk your own matcha and taste the two together. One day only: Friday, October 30, 2026.

Reserve your seat About the workshop
Venue
Kujo-kan, Tokyo National Museum
Date
Fri, October 30, 2026
3 sessions
Price
JPY 15,000 per person
Tax and materials included; museum admission not included
Format
60 minutes / 16 guests
English & Japanese

One day only

Friday, October 30, 2026 — 3 sessions

JPY 15,000 per person · 60 minutes · up to 16 guests per session · solo travellers welcome

Reserve your seat Free cancellation until two days before
In English and Japanese Your instructor guides the session in both languages, with an assistant on hand to help.
Beginner friendly No experience with wagashi or matcha needed. The instructor will guide you through each step.
Nothing to bring All tools and ingredients are provided. There is no dress code.
Make a day of the museum Kujo-kan stands inside the museum grounds. Museum admission is separate, so the collection is yours for the rest of the day.

The workshop

A garden landscape,
made into a single sweet

Nerikiri is the wagashi that gives each season a shape. This time, the subject is the autumn Japanese garden itself.

01

Place

Kujo-kan is a historic wooden building in the museum garden, normally closed to the public. Visitors walk past it. On this one day the doors open, and the workshop takes place inside.

02

Person

Your instructor is Saki Koike, wagashi artist and founder of Wagashi Studio immer, who expresses Japan's seasons and natural landscapes through wagashi — particularly nerikiri.

03

Confection

On a stone-inspired base, you add delicate kinton details that suggest moss and mountains in autumn colour. Choose your shapes and colours, and compose your own miniature landscape.

04

Matcha

When your nerikiri is finished, you whisk your own matcha — after watching your instructor demonstrate — and enjoy the two together.

Saki Koike in kimono, arranging tools on a low table in a tatami room
Saki Koike preparing her tools.
Saki Koike shaping nerikiri with a wooden tool
Saki Koike at work.
Hands whisking matcha in a bowl, with a piece of nerikiri on a silver plate
Finally, you whisk your own matcha.

Photos in this section were taken at a location other than Kujo-kan.

Exterior of Kujo-kan, a single-storey wooden building with a tiled roof, surrounded by the garden's greenery
Kujo-kan from outside, set among the garden's greenery.
The veranda of Kujo-kan seen from the garden path
The veranda, from the garden.
The inner corridor of Kujo-kan, paper lanterns above and the garden through glazed screens
And from inside.
A ten-tatami room in Kujo-kan, with the alcove panels painted with a mountain landscape
A room visitors normally see only from outside.

The building

Kujo-kan

A garden landscape, made inside the garden it comes from.

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 ducal villa in Akasaka, and in 1934 came here, to the museum garden, given by Kujo Michihide.

The Kujo were kuge — court nobility, not samurai. For some six centuries theirs was one of five families from which the emperor's regents were chosen, and the culture they kept was a Kyoto culture of ceremony, poetry and the turning of the seasons.

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 ducal 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 Kujo-kan is normally closed to visitors. Entry to Kujo-kan is by reserved booking.

See session times

The plan

Four things you will do

One piece of nerikiri inspired by an autumn garden, made by your own hands, then tasted with matcha you whisk yourself. Sixty minutes, in English and Japanese.

Nerikiri with a stone-like, sesame-flecked base topped with kinton suggesting moss and autumn leaves
Sample piece: an autumn Japanese garden in a single nerikiri.
01

Wagashi and the seasons

After a short welcome, your instructor introduces wagashi, its tools, and how the seasons are expressed in its designs.

02

Shape an autumn landscape

Watch a demonstration first, then make your own. On a stone-inspired base, add kinton suggesting moss and autumn mountains, choosing your favourite shapes and colours.

03

Learn to whisk matcha

Your instructor demonstrates how to whisk matcha. After photographing your finished piece, you whisk a bowl yourself.

04

Taste the two together

Your own nerikiri, with the matcha you whisked. This is the moment the whole hour was built for.

  • Each guest makes one piece of nerikiri.
  • Timings for each step may shift slightly depending on the group.

The instructor

Saki KoikeWagashi artist & instructor / Founder of Wagashi Studio immer

Expressing Japan's seasons and natural landscapes through wagashi, particularly nerikiri.

Saki Koike completed a specialised course at Tsuji Culinary Institute and runs Wagashi Studio immer, where she teaches nerikiri classes and workshops built around the seasons.

Her work includes workshops at temples, wagashi supervision for media projects, designing and providing wagashi for VIP guests at film-related events, and seasonal styling and table settings.

She leads this session herself, in English and Japanese, with an assistant to support her.

Studio
Founder, Wagashi Studio immer
Training
Specialised course, Tsuji Culinary Institute
Work
Temple workshops · wagashi supervision for media · wagashi for VIP guests at film-related events
1,000+
participants taught, including English-language classes

Wagashi Studio immer

Reserve your seat
Portrait of Saki Koike in kimono, holding a piece of nerikiri
Saki Koike.

The instructor photo was taken at a location other than Kujo-kan.

Who this is for

For guests who want to meet Japanese culture through place, material and their own hands

Whether you are in Japan for a week, you live here, or you are from here.

The seasons, by hand

Choosing shapes and colours, layering kinton, building a landscape little by little — the delicacy of wagashi, felt in your own fingers.

Inside the museum

The session sits in the garden of a national museum, in a building visitors walk past but do not enter — a few minutes from the galleries.

Families welcome

Children of elementary school age and older can take part. There is no age limit for guests who only watch.

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.

Tokyo National Museum
13-9 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8712, Japan
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
Open in Google Maps
Route from the Main Gate to Kujo-kan Enter at the Main Gate. Honkan, the Japanese Gallery, is straight ahead and Toyokan, the Asian Gallery, is to the right. The garden entrance is beside Toyokan. Kujo-kan stands in the garden behind Honkan. MUSEUM GARDEN Heiseikan Honkan Japanese Gallery Toyokan Asian Gallery MAIN GATE Garden entrance KUJO-KAN N
  1. 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.
  2. Honkan is straight aheadThe long gallery building facing you is Honkan, the Japanese Gallery. Toyokan, the Asian Gallery, stands to your right.
  3. Enter the garden beside ToyokanWalk towards Toyokan and follow the path into the garden, which lies behind Honkan.
  4. 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. The garden is open 9:30 to 17:00. Diagram not to scale.

Booking

Available sessions

Friday, October 30, 2026
Kujo-kan, Tokyo National Museum
60 minutes / English & Japanese / up to 16 guests
JPY 15,000 per person (tax and materials included)
Museum admission not included

1Session times (up to 16 guests each)

  • Session 1: 11:00–12:00
  • Session 2: 12:30–13:30
  • Session 3: 14:00–15:00

You will choose your session time in the booking form. Please arrive at Kujo-kan 15 minutes before your session begins.

Reserve your seat
  • Free to cancel until October 28. From the day before the session (00:00 Japan time), cancellations are charged at 100% of the fee.
  • Solo travellers are welcome. Sessions run from a single booking.

Details

Before joining

Venue
Kujo-kan, in the garden of the Tokyo National Museum, Ueno, Tokyo — how to find it
Language
English and Japanese. Your instructor guides the session in both languages, with an assistant to help
Eligibility
Elementary school students and older
Watching
There is no age limit for guests who only watch
What to wear
Whatever you are comfortable in. There is no dress code
What to bring
Nothing. All tools and ingredients are provided
Check-in
Please arrive at Kujo-kan 15 minutes before your session begins
Late arrival
Guests arriving after the session has begun may not be able to join
Seating
If sitting on the floor is difficult for you, please let us know when booking
What you make
One piece of nerikiri, enjoyed on the spot with the matcha you whisk
Ingredients
Nerikiri: white kidney beans, azuki beans, sugar, shiratamako (glutinous rice flour), black sesame, food colouring
Drink: matcha
No animal-derived ingredients or wheat are used as ingredients
Allergies
Allergen: sesame
Prepared in a kitchen and with equipment shared with foods containing milk, egg, wheat and tree nuts. Please tell us of any allergies or dietary requirements when booking
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
Cancellation
From the day before the session (00:00 Japan time), cancellations are charged at 100% of the fee and are non-refundable. The same applies to same-day cancellations and no-shows
If we cancel
If the organiser cancels the session, the full fee is refunded. Travel and accommodation costs cannot be covered
Notes
The session is cancelled if the museum is closed. Schedule and operating details may change depending on museum conditions