Japanese culture and traditions to experience in Japan

A world away from dunking a teabag into a mug of hot water, the Japanese tea ceremony is designed as a more spiritual experience, with an emphasis on simplicity and tranquillity. Known as chado, or the way of tea, the ceremony usually takes place in a tearoom with a tatami floor, often surrounded by a garden, with few decorations or other items to distract from the experience.

Tea ceremony

Only the essential items to prepare the bowl of green tea are used, and the slow, deliberate tea-making process is designed to transport you away from the busy everyday world, creating an almost meditative feeling. You’ll find varying degrees of formality, with the ceremony available for visitors to some traditional gardens, cultural centres and even hotels, as well as dedicated tea rooms. Kyoto, Kanazawa and Uji are among the best destinations in Japan to enjoy the experience.

Ryokan

These traditional inns are found across Japan, with many ryokan near hot spring resorts, so you can enjoy an onsen as part of your stay. And a stay is a chance to experience some authentic Japanese traditions, with tatami mat floors, futon beds and local cuisine. As part of the stay, you’ll be provided with yukata, a more lightweight version of a kimono made of cotton, which can be worn as loungewear, nightwear and for bath houses, along with wooden sandals if you’re going outside.

A night in a ryokan usually includes a style of Japanese fine dining, known as kaiseki, an intricate meals featuring seasonal specialities. An optional extra as part of our Essence of Japan tour, this is an unmissable cultural gem to include.

Kaiseki dinner

You’ll discover some deliciously unusual food as you explore Japan, but no meal can beat a kaiseki dinner. Also known as kaiseki ryori, this multi-course feast usually has between seven and 14 separate courses focused around dishes with seasonal and local ingredients, usually served with sake.

Traditionally the sequence includes a small starter, followed by soup, sashimi, a specific seasonal dish, a simmered dish, a grilled dish (often fish), a rice dish and dessert, but you may also find smaller palate cleansers or other small dishes in between.

It’s not merely the food which makes kaiseki so memorable, as the presentation of the dishes is equally important so it’s a feast for the eyes as well. With its origins in Zen Buddhism, although the modern-day version has changed over the centuries, Kyoto is one of the best places to enjoy kaiseki, or you can also enjoy it on our Grand Tour of Japan in Aso, in the southern island of Kyushu.

Japan’s national sport has a long and fascinating history, with sumo wrestling said to have originated as a way to entertain Shinto gods and involving various religious rituals. Some are still part of the sport today, such as symbolically purifying the ring with salt.

With very simple rules to follow, you needn’t be an expert to enjoy watching a contest either; the wrestler who exits the ring or dohyo first or who touches the ground with any part of his body other than the soles of his feet is the loser. Often contests last just seconds, and size is key along with skill, as there are no separate weight classes, so the bulkiest wrestler often has an advantage.

Six Sumo Wrestling Tournaments are held each year, lasting 15 days, with contests between lower-ranked wrestlers earlier in the day and the more skilled wrestlers towards the end of the day. Three tournaments are held in Tokyo in January, May and September – some of the special departures of our Essence of Japan tour include tickets to the tournament. You can also see tournaments in Osaka in March, Nagoya in July and Fukuoka in November, and occasional exhibition tournaments at other times.

Cherry blossom viewing

Japan’s famous cherry blossom festival, or Hanami, is perhaps the best known but you’ll find local festivals – or matsuri - taking place across the country throughout the year, with a chance to experience centuries-old traditions and a fascinating part of Japanese life if you visit at the right time.

Discover a string of seasonal festivals. Spring’s cherry blossom watch is a national event, taking place in March and April at varying times across Japan, followed by the wisteria festival between around mid-April and mid-July.

In autumn, Tsukimi, or the Moon-Viewing festival celebrates the harvest moon in September or October, as well as the harvest itself, with rice dumplings given as offerings and plenty of seasonal food to enjoy. You’ll also find a chrysanthemum festival in Kasama in late October.

Winter sees the Sapporo Snow festival, where intricate ice sculptures are displayed. Then as winter ends, the plum blossom festival begins in late February in Kairakuen in eastern Japan.

Some of the country’s biggest festivals include the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, with a parade of huge floats in July, and the Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka later in the month, where the procession includes boats on the river and fireworks. The Takayama Festivals take place in spring and autumn, honouring two different shrines with their own parades of decorative floats, plus other performances and processions.

In August, the Nebuta Matsuri floats feature huge lanterns which can measure over 10m, attraction millions of visitors, while Obon (or Bon) is a nationwide holiday usually celebrated on August 15 where Japanese families honour their ancestors, but when carnivals are also common. Each area tends to celebrate slightly differently, so it’s a perfect way to enjoy local culture.

There are festivals with links to history too, including the Aoi Matsuri in Kyoto, with a parade where people dress up in ancient aristocratic style from the Heian Period, dating from the 8th to 12th centuries.

Kenroku-En, Kanazawa

There’s no country in the world which values gardens quite like Japan. Garden design has been considered an art form here for over 1,000 years, while the gardens themselves often illustrate religious and philosophical principles, from simplicity and connection with the natural world, to being places for meditation and reflection. Some are also home to temples, lakes and picturesque bridges, along with wonderful collections of flowers and trees.

Kenroku-En is one of the country’s three most important gardens, where you can learn more about the six essentials of this cultural art, including niwaki, where plants are sculpted rather than pruned, and where every element has meaning as well as beauty. The 17th century garden is one of the loveliest places to enjoy cherry blossom in spring too.

Or Suizenji Garden, another 17th century creation, reproduces the 53 stations of the Tokaido, the vital route connecting Kyoto with Edo (today’s Tokyo) during the days of the Shoguns. You’ll even find a miniature representation of Mount Fuji as you explore. The last of Japan’s three great gardens is considered to be Kōraku-en, designed around a series of ponds, with waterfalls, bridges, tea houses and cherry trees ensuring every view is beautiful as you stroll the peaceful paths, with Okayama Castle visible next door. Both Suizenji and Kōraku-en can be visited on our Grand Tour of Japan.

Kawadoko dining

If you’re visiting Japan during summer, don’t miss the chance to experience a special way of dining, that’s designed to help you stay cool as temperatures soar. Known as kawadoko (or kawayuka in Kyoto), these specially constructed dining platforms are created outdoors over a river or overlooking flowing water.

As a result, diners get to enjoy the cool breezes from the water as well as the views, usually illuminated by lanterns at night. Kawadoko are on created in the early summer until early autumn, and particularly popular during July and August – some may close temporarily during the rainy season from late June to mid-July. You’ll find a variety of different cuisines on offer, from traditional kaiseki dinners to noodles and hotpot, plus international dishes at some places in Kyoto.

Himeji Castle

There are few better ways to immerse yourself in Japanese culture than to explore the country’s history, visiting some of the most important historic temples, as well as Japan’s castles. UNESCO-listed Himeji Castle, is one of the country’s best preserved feudal castles, known as the ‘white heron’, along with lakeside Hikone Castle between Nagoya and Kyoto, and Inuyama Castle north of Nagoya.

Famously imposing, Osaka Castle has been reconstructed but still gives a glimpse into the might and grandeur of the original, while 17th century Nijo Castle in Kyoto has some quirky details such as the nightingale floor which ‘sang’ when stepped on, revealing any intruders. You’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to visiting temples across Japan too, including the 7th century Senso-ji temple in Tokyo, the oldest in the city still standing, or Todai-ji Temple in Nara, home to the world’s largest bronze Buddha statue and a key site in the growth of Buddhism.

Kyoto alone has a string of wonderful temples, including the 8th century Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion) and Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion).

A bullet train passes Mount Fuji

Far more than a way to get from A to B, Japan’s high-speed bullet trains are famous world-wide, not least for their astonishing punctuality as well as for whisking travellers around the country at speeds of up to 200mph. The Shinkansen network dates back to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and has since expanded to have nine lines, with further extensions already planned, including one taking visitors north to Sapporo.

One of the most popular routes connects Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, plus Yokohama, Nagoya and Mishima, with views of Mount Fuji as you travel, but you can also use them to travel to Kanazawa, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, among other destinations, for one of the most memorable ways to get around.

Both our Essence of Japan and Grand Tour of Japan itineraries include three bullet train journeys.

Step back in time to the days of the samurai, when one of Japan’s five main highways was a route through the mountains connecting Edo (today’s Tokyo) with Kyoto. Stretching for 540km, there were 69 post towns along the cobbled road of the Nakasendo Route, passing through the mountains of Gifu and Nagano Prefectures, as well as past the towns of the Kiso Valley, travelling through lush forests and past remote villages which still seem far from the modern world.

While much of the route is now lost to more modern highways, you can still find parts of the original road here, including a 4.5-mile stretch from Magome to Tsumago, where you can stroll through woodland and countryside for a glimpse of this long-lost world as part of our Grand Tour of Japan.

Discover the Land of the Rising Sun's rich culture for yourself on an escorted tour of Japan