Experiences
Experience Japanese culture.
Each experience offers a different way into Japanese culture — through a historic place, a living tradition, and the people who continue it today. Every experience has its own dedicated page with full details and booking.
Wagashi
Autumn Wagashi Experience in a Historic Setting
Discover the art of nerikiri, a traditional Japanese confection made from white bean paste that expresses the beauty of the season in color and shape.
Shape two seasonal confections by hand from start to finish as you learn the artisan's technique and sensibility, then enjoy your freshly made sweets with fragrant genmaicha.
Miyuki Suyari has taught wagashi in English since founding Simply Oishii Wagashi School in Meguro, Tokyo, in 2014 — more than 10,000 guests have visited since. As Director of Wagashi Promotion Association Japan, she shares Japanese culture with guests from abroad through wagashi.
Manga
Learn from Choju-giga and Hokusai Manga: Draw Your Own Manga!
Inside Kujokan, a historic hall in the Tokyo National Museum garden that is normally closed to the public, learn from Choju-giga and Hokusai Manga, the roots of Japanese manga, and draw your own with a brush pen.
Guided by professional manga artist Kazuo Maekawa, you draw an animal manga and an Edo-style portrait on two shikishi boards.
To close, he draws a portrait of you to take home. Ages 5 and up; no drawing experience needed.
Professional manga artist and lead instructor at MANGA DOJO Tokyo in Ikebukuro. Debuted in Kodansha's Young Magazine in 1997 and drew the manga of Ace Attorney and Ace Attorney Investigations. He has led manga workshops in Hawaii, Florida and the Netherlands.
Tea Ceremony
Authentic Japanese Tea Ceremony Experience: Discover the Spirit of Urasenke
Experience a 60-minute tea ceremony in the spirit of Urasenke inside Kujokan, a historic hall in the Tokyo National Museum garden that is normally closed to the public.
Hear about the history and heart of tea, watch a demonstration, enjoy a seasonal nerikiri and matcha, then whisk a bowl of your own.
No tea experience is needed. The session ends with questions and a commemorative photo.
Associate Professor of the Urasenke school of tea and head of Koshinan. After student years in Malaysia and Singapore and a career in overseas sales at Mitsubishi Motors, he has introduced tea to people from more than 20 countries.
Kumihimo
Traditional Kumihimo Workshop — Since 1652, Crafted by Domyo
Discover the art of kumihimo, Japan's traditional braided cord, with Domyo, a kumihimo studio founded in 1652.
Choose your own colors, work with hand-dyed silk threads, and learn to braid your own cord using the same marudai stand used by professional craftsmen.
Founded in 1652, Domyo has carried the art of kumihimo through centuries of Japanese history. Its cords have been used in court dress, armor, Buddhist ritual objects, tea culture, and obijime sashes.
During this workshop, an instructor from Domyo guides you through the process using the same type of marudai stand and hand-dyed silk threads used in the studio's own work.
Past experiences
A growing collection of experiences.
From traditional crafts to Japanese sweets and matcha, each session offers a different way to experience Japanese culture inside Kujokan.
Past experiences are shown as a record of previous programmes.
The concept
Experience Japanese culture in its own setting.
Japanese culture is not something to experience only from a distance. There is something different about sitting on tatami, entering a historic residence, meeting someone who has devoted their life to a craft, and making something with your own hands. That is the kind of experience we want to create at Kujokan — intimate, authentic, and rooted in place.
Each experience brings together three things: a remarkable place, someone who truly carries the tradition, and the opportunity to take part yourself. The result is more than a workshop. It is a personal encounter with Japanese culture — one you can carry with you long after you leave.
The setting
Kujokan. A historic residence, normally closed to the public.
Tucked away inside the garden of the Tokyo National Museum, Kujokan offers a setting few visitors ever have the chance to enter.
Kujokan is a historic residence with ties to the Kujo family, one of the five regent houses of Japan. Originally built within the grounds of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the residence was later moved to the Kujo family's ducal villa in Akasaka. In 1934, it was donated to the Tokyo National Museum by Kujo Michihide.
Today, Kujokan stands quietly within the museum garden. It is not, strictly speaking, a teahouse. Its rooms are designed in the shoin style, with two ten-tatami-mat rooms surrounded by a veranda — a refined setting that once served for receiving guests.
The garden itself is open to visitors, but its historic buildings are normally closed to the public. For these special experiences, the doors of Kujokan open to a small number of guests.
The Tokyo National Museum garden is usually open to visitors, but the interiors of its historic buildings are normally closed.
Kujokan can be entered only by guests taking part in an experience.
Why Kujokan
Place. Person. Experience.
You can learn a skill almost anywhere.
But meeting someone who has carried on a traditional craft and learning directly from them in a special place — that's an experience with a value all its own.
A historic residence you cannot usually enter.
Kujokan stands inside the garden of the Tokyo National Museum, surrounded by 150 years of museum history. Most visitors see it only from the garden path. For these experiences, the doors open.
Meet the people who keep traditions alive.
Each experience is led by a professional artisan, master, or traditional craft house with a genuine lineage. These are not generalist guides. They are people who work with these traditions in their everyday lives — and continue to pass them on.
See. Learn. Create. Experience.
The best way to understand a tradition is sometimes to take part in it. Watch closely. Ask questions. Use the tools. Work with the materials. Make something yourself. Experience Japanese culture through your own hands.
In their own words
Guests from past experiences.
A small group, a historic residence, and a chance to experience Japanese culture in a way few visitors can.
It was my first time having matcha, and I learned a lot about it today… Definitely recommend it.
A guest from the July session
A very nice experience, and worth doing it. It’s a quiet place, and the practice is really nice. I was very happy.
A guest from the July session
My first time trying kumihimo, and the history behind it was fascinating. The quiet concentration felt like true mindfulness — the finished strap turned out so beautiful, I almost don’t want to use it.
A guest from the September session
This was unlike anything I’d done before. I’ve visited the Tokyo National Museum many times, but I never imagined I’d actually get to go inside Kujokan.
A guest from the September session
Photos and comments are from manatea's July, August, and September experiences at Kujokan.
Location
Find your way to Kujokan.
Kujokan is tucked away in the garden of the Tokyo National Museum, just a few minutes' walk from the Main Gate.
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
Museum admission is separate from the experience fee — ¥1,000 for adults, ¥500 for university students, and free for visitors under 18 and over 70.
Your experience begins here.
Experience Japanese culture at Kujokan.
Enter a historic residence normally closed to the public. Meet the people who carry Japanese traditions forward. And experience Japanese culture for yourself.