Published on Nov, 2024
Whilst in Japan recently we went to the Maikoya Samurai and Ninja museum and then onto their Japanese Tea ceremony.
I'm glad we had google maps to guide us to the museum as it is tucked away up some stairs above a shop on one of the main shopping streets.
Once outside the venue it is easy enough to spot but you can't really see it from a distance so I would allow an extra ten minutes to make sure you can find it OK rather than turn up last minute.
We elected to add on the sword experience which you pay extra for and this is what we did first on our arrival.
There were about ten of us in this group ranging in age from people in their 20's to us in our 50's. There were no young children in our group but I don't see any reason why older children wouldn't be able to do this activity.
We were shown to a room and dressed in traditional Japanese robes for this activity and then each selected our wooden sword. We then had the opportunity to take photos and the instructor took some for people on their phones as well.
What followed was a session learning some basic sword moves and blocks taught to us by a very experienced martial arts sword teacher. He was a great guy and as well as teaching us the various moves and blocks was very friendly and found time in the session to also have light hearted moments and made the experience real fun. The session finishes with your newly learned moves being put together into a final routine ( very much like a Kata in Karate ) which you are allowed to set your phone up to video if you wish. Everybody does this together as one at the same time.
We thoroughly enjoyed this activity and would recommend adding this on to your visit. At no point do you have to fight anybody.
Next we were shown to the museum and this for me is how museums should be. There were only three or four rooms but each had exhibits such as suits of Samurai armour, weapons etc as well as lots of colourful, easy to understand and digest displays on the wall explaining Samurai history and culture. What really made the experience for me is that for the whole time your group are with an English speaking guide who takes you through the rooms ( about ten minutes in each room ) and all of the time they are passionately talking, explaining and demonstrating all things Samurai and Ninja.
Nothing boring here. I learned SO MUCH in a short space of time.
Next we were handed over to another guide in another room who led the Ninja throwing star experience. This was a fun experience throwing rigid rubber throwing stars at targets ending in a light hearted competition. This part of the experience lasted about ten to fifteen minutes.
The group then split into two. Those who had booked the tea ceremony had to go down the road to the tea house for the tea ceremony whist the rest stayed to try on the Samurai armour.
We had expected to try on the armour ourselves but simply ran out of time. I think this may have been because we seemed to spend much longer than expected on the sword training activity at the beginning. It really didn't bother us that we didn't get to try on Samurai armour but may be something to consider.
Finally we took the short walk down the road to the tea house.
First men and women men were separated in order to change into their traditional tea ceremony clothes before reuniting again and then after photos we went into the tea ceremony itself.
Our host was very passionate about the tea ceremony and explained it all to us as she carried out the ceremony which was in itself fascinating before we all made our own cup of Matcha tea. More photos in the garden followed before we all changed back into our own clothes and left with considerable more knowledge about the Samurai, Japanese history and the tea ceremony itself.
We really enjoyed all of these interactive activities and were never bored.
I don't think you can book this activity through third party resellers and will have to book directly with Maikoya through their website but the whole process was really easy to do.
Anybody remotely interested in Japanese culture or history should visit the Maikoya Samurai and Ninja museum and the tea ceremony as well.
Thank you Maikoya for a great time.
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