Summer time in Japan, and while you are wandering around the picturesque and lush-green Japanese Hamarikyu Gardens, you get thirsty. Now what? You may ask, why did you visit Tokyo during summer, this megacity with the huge skyscrapers and the intolerable heat? Well, it just happened, even then, Tokyo is an all-season city!
And so, in the heart of these Gardens there is a small lake, which hosts a tiny island, on which a beautiful traditional teahouse is located! There, you have the opportunity to enjoy original Japanese matcha tea in a serene natural environment, away from the chaos of the dull megacity.
The 118m. long bridge made of “hinoki” wood
Views to the tea house from the gardens
The small wooden bridge at the back side of the tea house
The entrance
The long bridge
Nakajima-no-ochaya is one of the numerous traditional teahouses of the city, famous for its privileged location and the views to the wonderful Japanese Hamarikyu Gardens and the surrounding skyscrapers. This beautiful ground-floor building was established in 1704 and takes you back to a different era with its traditional architecture and the inner decoration…..to those times when Shoguns and Japanese emperors lived inside, enjoying the immense calmness of the amazing scenery. The teahouse was renovated in 1983 and is now connected with the garden via wooden bridges. The biggest of them has a length of 118m. and is made of “hinoki”, wood from Japanese cypress. We walked through a smaller bridge towards the back side of the island. When you reach the entrance, you have to take off your shoes and place them inside a wooden shoe-case and then you enter a wooden ground-floor room consisting of two rooms with huge glass windows and a big wooden balcony. Decoration is simple and very traditional Japanese with an amazing view to the Gardens regardless of the room you are in. The floor is covered by straw carpets, and red carpets around them show the spots where the visitors is supposed to sit. Everything in there is perfectly clean and tidied up!!! Tea is served in a tray which is placed on the straw carpet. We ordered cold matcha tea, which was served inside huge mugs full of ice cubes, together with two small traditional confection and accompanied by two small wooden knives, which we were supposed to use to cut the confections and eat before drinking our tea! Why before? Because this is the traditional Japanese ritual. And so as to live this experience, you first have to read a small manual that they give you along with the tea: how to cut the confections, how to hold the mug, how to drink the tea… there are rules for every single process, which you must follow if you wish to feel a genuine Japanese even for a while!
Ready to experience the traditional tea ceremony
But first….the instructions!
Cold matcha tea served in traditional bowls accompanied by Japanese confections
Surrounded only by calm water and pines…..
After indulging in our cold tea in a magnificent environment, we exited to the wooden balcony to take some pictures. In this spot, you need to wear slippers to go out, as you are supposed to walk barefoot only indoors. Out on the balcony, you may also sit and enjoy your tea, if the weather conditions allow it (when we were visiting, it was unfortunately too hot). The whole experience was really unique and we paid 500¥/person (about 4€, 2012 price). Afterwards, we went off to the opposite direction and passing by the big wooden bridge, we looked for one last time at the spectacular view and then we continued our walk in the gardens.
**The Gardens are accessible via subway, at stations Shiodome (7’ on foot) and Shimbashi (10’ on foot). You can find more information in the official website of the Gardens.
Walking on the long wooden bridge in a tranquil environment
