Amazing AOMORI

Located in Aomori Prefecture’s hot-spring town of Asamushi Onsen, Tsubakikan is a hot-spring inn with an approximately 400-year history.

It is known as an inn where the world-renowned Japanese printmaker Munakata Shiko often stayed, and some of his priceless artworks are on display in the Munakata Shiko Gallery inside the inn.
The inn also offers an accommodation plan that includes a tearoom/matcha experience so that guests can experience a Japanese tea ceremony.
  

The traditional Japanese culture of the tea ceremony involves more than just drinking tea in a tearoom. The spirit of Zen can be found in quiet moments of reflection spent calming one’s mind in a tearoom according to traditional Japanese etiquette. There is also the communion born from the mutual respect between the person who is served tea and the person who serves it.
 
Tsubakikan’s approximately one-hour tearoom/matcha experience allows you to fully experience Japanese tea culture.

First, you will prepare yourself for entering the tearoom by changing into a kimono. Instruction is provided, so you don’t need to worry if you’ve never worn a kimono before. Next, you must crouch to enter the tearoom through a small entrance called nijiriguchi. Inside is a traditional Japanese space where a tatami-mat floor and paper-screened windows create a calm atmosphere. You will first observe the proprietress of Tsubakikan herself gracefully perform the etiquette for preparing tea in front of you. The sound of blending hot water poured into a bowl and the matcha powder using a bamboo whisk reverberates throughout the quiet tearoom. Then, the peaceful moment of drinking the matcha arrives. The tasty Japanese-style sweets served with the matcha accentuate the bitterness of the tea.

The experience doesn’t end there. Next, it’s your turn to make your own matcha. You can prepare matcha with a whisk under the guidance of the proprietress and taste matcha you made yourself.

Gazing at the inn’s beautiful Japanese garden while basking in the mystical afterglow of the tearoom/matcha experience is sure to be a highlight in your cultural experience of Japanese hospitality through the tea ceremony.

Once the entire experience is finished, you may want to enjoy a soak in the inn’s hot-spring bath. A leisurely bath in hot-spring water flowing fresh from the source will relieve the fatigue of your trip.