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View all Hiroshima toursMiyajima Zen Temple Experience: Tea Ceremony & Calligraphy in Kimono in Hiroshima
Enjoy your choice of a tea ceremony, a calligraphy lesson, or both while wearing a kimono inside a Zen temple on Miyajima. Soak up the quiet atmosphere and ramble around the garden.
Highlights
- Tea ceremony and calligraphy inside a real Zen temple
- Properly fitted kimono worn throughout the experience
- Whisk your own bowl of matcha the traditional way
- Take home the calligraphy you brush yourself
- Stroll the temple garden in kimono for photos
- Rated 4.97 across 270 reviews
Miyajima Zen Temple Experience: Tea Ceremony & Calligraphy in Kimono: Key Facts
| Price | From $105.44 per person |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1-2 hours |
| Languages | English |
| Tour type | Experience |
| Booking | Direct with the local operator — no OTA markup |
Full description
Most visitors see Miyajima's temples from the outside. This cultural experience with okeiko Japan seats you inside one, dressed in a kimono, with a bowl of matcha in your hands. Hosted in a tranquil Zen temple on the sacred island, the session lets you choose a traditional tea ceremony, a Japanese calligraphy lesson, or both, each conducted in the unhurried, deliberate spirit that temple settings were made for. The experience begins with kimono dressing: staff fit you properly in the layered garment, an art in itself, and the kimono is yours to wear for the duration, including through the temple garden, which produces the kind of photographs no rented street-corner kimono can match. If you choose the tea ceremony, you watch the host prepare matcha with the precise, centuries-old choreography of the tea room, taste the whisked green tea with a traditional sweet, and then learn to make a bowl yourself. The calligraphy option puts a brush in your hand and teaches the strokes, rhythm and breathing of shodo, ink on paper in a silent hall, with your finished work to take home. Between activities there is time to simply be in the temple: to ramble the garden, listen to the quiet, and let the atmosphere of the island settle in. The hosts are warm, English-friendly and patient with beginners, which shows in the numbers: a 4.97 rating across 270 reviews, among the highest of any experience in the region. It is an ideal counterweight to a morning at the shrine, roughly ninety minutes that many guests call the calmest of their whole trip.
Tour Itinerary
The schedule below is a suggested plan and can be adjusted to suit your preferences.
Arrive at the Zen temple
Arrive at the tranquil temple on Miyajima and be welcomed by the okeiko Japan hosts.
Kimono dressing
Staff fit you properly in a layered kimono, yours to wear for the whole experience including the garden.
Tea ceremony
Watch matcha prepared with centuries-old choreography, taste it with a traditional sweet, then whisk a bowl yourself.
Calligraphy lesson
Learn the strokes, rhythm and breathing of shodo with brush and ink, and keep your finished work.
Temple garden stroll
Ramble the quiet garden in kimono, with time for photographs and stillness before the session closes.
Detailed Itinerary
10:00 AM - Arrive at the Zen temple: Arrive at the tranquil temple on Miyajima and be welcomed by the okeiko Japan hosts.
10:10 AM - Kimono dressing: Staff fit you properly in a layered kimono, yours to wear for the whole experience including the garden.
10:30 AM - Tea ceremony: Watch matcha prepared with centuries-old choreography, taste it with a traditional sweet, then whisk a bowl yourself.
11:00 AM - Calligraphy lesson: Learn the strokes, rhythm and breathing of shodo with brush and ink, and keep your finished work.
11:25 AM - Temple garden stroll: Ramble the quiet garden in kimono, with time for photographs and stillness before the session closes.
Includes
- Professional local guide, all fees mentioned in the itinerary
Excludes
- Personal expenses, meals unless specified, gratuities
Important information
Meeting point
Miyajima (details confirmed with operator on booking)
Know before you go
- Free cancellation available up to 24 hours before the activity starts
About this activity
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Traveler Reviews
A wonderful experience in every way for the whole family. From the careful dressing in kimonos to the entertaining tea ceremony to the calligraphy workshop. The ladies in the workshop were extremely nice and accommodating – and we also had a lot of fun. A highly recommended thing to do that is worth the price.
It’s a well stuctured professional experience with three parts, tea ceremony, caligraphy and amulet making. Before the activity you can choose a great yukata to wear (choose from approx 30 option). Tea ceremony is very good, you can not just a part of a professional ceremony, you can also celebrate it yourself they teach you to do it. Caligraphy is also unforgettable, You can practice it they provide you enough time, after practicing you can sign your name and a selected specific Kanji to a wood spoon. Last but not least the amulet making. This is the spiritual part of the experience, it happen in a shrine, you can make your own amulet, with your choosed wish, and you can design it by yourself. After in a quick ceremony will blessed it. The place is very peaceful and tranquily and the staff is absolute professional.
This was our favorite activity so far in Japan. I have done experiences with wearing Kimonos and nothing came close to this. The room was absolutely gorgeous and it was just us so it felt so special. The temple is gorgeous and they took beautiful pictures and videos for us at no extra cost.
Une expérience incroyable avec des femmes exceptionnelles! Un très bon moment avec ma femme. Je recommande ++++
The tea ceremony wearing kimonos was really good. Just a few streets back from the crazy Miyajima crowds, we were in another world. Deer wandering around in little streets. The Zen temple was so peaceful, the staff really friendly, and the tea ceremony was great. Highly recommend.
Greatly enjoyed this activity, interesting to discover how many different parts a real kimono dressing experience entails. The ladies were wonderful, patient and good English speakers. Would highly recommend it!!
A wonderful, immersive experience in Japanese culture. We had a wonderful, timeless experience.
It was truly such a wonderful and one of a kind experience. We did the tea ceremony, the calligraphy class, and amulet making all while wearing traditional kimonos. If there is one thing we’d recommend doing in Miyajima, it is 1000% this! The people running everything were truly so kind, friendly, and did a wonderful job explaining/teaching us everything! My favorite part was the learning the calligraphy and my girlfriends favorite part was the amulet making. We can totally see why some people have done this numerous times!
My son and I had an absolutely wonderful time doing the tea ceremony and calligraphy lesson. Surprisingly, having someone else dress us was our favorite part. It made us feel like royalty and was so neat to see all the steps that went into wearing traditional clothing. This has been our favorite activity so far on the trip.
We enjoyed all aspects of this activity, our hosts were friendly and professional and it was a pleasure to escape the busy main part of the island. I particularly enjoyed wearing the kimono with the beautifully tied obi.