Dinner experience with a maiko
1 August 2025.
| Plan Description. | Visitors can experience the tea ceremony in a tea house that has been in existence since the Edo period. ◇History and origin of the Waiting Seian. The Waiting Seian was built around 200 years ago, during the Bunka-Bunsei period, by the High Priest Kakugen of Horyu-ji Temple. Kakugen was born in 1764 in what is now Koriyama Jonan and died at the age of 76, a long life for his time. Kakugen served as a monk at Horyu-ji Temple under the guardianship of Yanagihara Chunagon Takamitsu, and was awarded the title of high priest by erection in the 9th year of Bunka (1812). Kakugen, who was well versed in the tea ceremony, built a teahouse called the Waiting Seian in the Zenjyuin temple of Horyuji. Horyuji records that he sent out a letter to his fellow monks inviting them all to enjoy a cup of tea, saying, "The water for the kettle has boiled at the Waiting Seian." In 1870, a monk named Sanjo (real name Higuchi Shosuke), abbot of the Zenjuin temple of Horyuji, retired from his position as abbot and set up house in this area. While living here, he served as the head priest of Horyu-ji Temple, and wrote many diaries and official documents of Horyu-ji Temple from the 10th to the 30th of the Meiji period. He moved the tea room of the Zenjuin Temple, where he used to live, to the current location of the Kaba Residence and enjoyed the tea ceremony there. No details are known about when or how the tea house was moved. It is possible that it was dismantled once, or that the earthen walls were pulled down without being dismantled. It was not uncommon at the time for tea houses to be relocated by pulling down the walls. The oblong, or long horizontal plaque, Waiting Seian, which hangs at the gate of the tea room or inside the room, was written in 1837 by Zen Master Maeyamurozan Tsurufu at the age of ninety-three, and engraved by Kakugen when he was seventy-five years old. As this oblong plaque is too large for the tea room, it is possible that it was hung somewhere else. The tea kettle from that time is still kept at Horyu-ji. |
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| Attractions and course overview. | ◇◆茶道体験◇◆ You will be taught and experience the following How to bow and greet; how to serve and drink tea; how to eat tea sweets. ◆ ◆Waiting Seian The Waiting Seian was built by Horyuji High Priest Kakugen in the Zenjyuin temple of Horyuji about 200 years ago, at the end of the Edo period. According to the records of Horyu-ji, Kakugen, who was well versed in the tea ceremony, sent letters to his fellow monks and invited them all to enjoy tea. The tea room also has a Japanese garden, where tea can be enjoyed while viewing the various expressions of the seasons. Enjoy Japanese traditions through tea. |
| Schedule details. | ■Meeting place. 2-1-6, Horyuji, Ikaruga-cho, Ikoma-gun, Ikoma 636-0116 (4 walk from Nara Kotsu Chuguji-mae stop, 19-minute walk from JR Horyuji Station, 10 minutes from Horyuji Interchange on Nishi-Meihan Expressway). ■ Experience time: 14:00-14:30. *Please wear socks or tabi to go up to the tea room. ◆The flow of the day ◆◇◇◇◇◇◇ Move to the tea room! ↓arrow (mark or symbol) Start of experience! ↓arrow (mark or symbol) The meeting ends with tea, and the group is disbanded. |
| Notes. | Please inform us in advance if you have any food allergies. *Please wear socks or tabi to go up to the tea room. *In the case of 10 or more people, the experience takes place in a Japanese house sitting room. |
| What to bring. | Please wear socks or tabi (Japanese socks) before going up to the tea ceremony room. |
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