You meet your guide away from the crowds of Higashi Chaya, then walk ten quiet minutes to a temple that has stood for 350 years — hidden, still active, and rarely seen by visitors. Before you ever step into the tea room, you are guided through the same customs practiced here for centuries: how to pause at the threshold, how to move, how to sit. Nothing is symbolic for show — every step is the real procedure, exactly as it has always been done. Inside the tea room, you are welcomed by the wife of the temple’s own priest. She points out the hanging scroll and the tea utensils chosen for that day — each one holding its own meaning, and each one changing with the season. The flowers, the bowl, the sweets: nothing is arbitrary, all of it selected to reflect the time of year. Then the ceremony begins. You watch as she grinds, warms, and whisks the matcha entirely by hand, before guiding you — in a small group of no more than six — through the same motions yourself. It’s this attention to the smallest details — the placement of a bowl, the meaning of a scroll, the choice of a season’s tool — that separates this from an ordinary tea experience. It isn’t a demonstration. It’s a real tea ceremony, exactly as it has always been practiced here.

This walking tour and cultural experience allows you to explore Kanazawa's notable sites with an ex-professional baseball player, culminating in a calligraphy session at a private temple reserved for your group.