Experience Japan's Traditional Culture Night Tour in Kyoto
Overview
Available languages
4 hours
Mobile ticket
Experience authentic Japanese culture in historic Gion district with this exclusive evening tour. Watch traditional performing arts at Gion Corner including Kyoto dance, tea ceremony, and seasonal bunraku or noh performances. Stroll through atmospheric streets illuminated by paper lanterns in the preserved historical district.
Enjoy a unique candlelit tea ceremony in a traditional ryokan courtyard, followed by authentic Zen-style vegetarian dinner reflecting Buddhist culinary traditions. Your National Government Licensed English Guide provides expert cultural insights throughout this immersive 4-hour experience.
Additional Info
Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Public transportation options are available nearby
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Gion Corner Programs: Regular Performance (Mar. 15 - Nov. 30), watch a traditional Kyoto dance, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, koto music, bugaku (court dance and music), kyogen (traditional Japanese comic theater), and bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre) or a noh play. Either bunraku or noh will be performed depending on the season. Winter Performance (Dec. 1 - Mar. 14), watch a traditional Kyoto dance, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, koto music, bugaku (court dance and music), and kyogen (traditional Japanese comic theater). Customers can take a commemorative photo with the maiko. *Please note that the content is subject to change
Children under 7 years of age (0-6 years old) may not participate
Buddhist vegetarian cuisine is served for dinner, so we welcome vegetarian participants. However, bonito stock is used in the tempura dipping sauce. Salt can be used instead of the tempura dipping sauce. The ingredients of tempura are tofu, namafu wheat gluten, yuba tofu skin, and vegetables in season, such as eggplants, lotusroot, ginger, and shiitake mushrooms. Miso soup and rice are also served. *Requests for Muslim-friendly meals, Indian thali meals, and allergy-friendly meals are not accepted
Tour's total duration is 4 hours, thouogh, the total duration listed in the itinerary is 2 hours and 50 minutes. The remaining hours are allotted for the travel time and the waiting time for performance of Gion Corner
Parental permission in writing is necessary for all tour participants under the age of eighteen. Any participant under the age of fifteen or not yet enrolled in middle school must be joined by a parent or guardian on the tour
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
What‘s Included
National Government Licensed English Guide Interpreter fee
Admission fees included in the tour
Japanese-style dinner
Dinner time drink charges
Gratuities
What To Expect
Gion Corner
Take some time to appreciate Japan’s traditional arts such as a traditional Kyoto dance, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, koto music, bugaku (court dance and music), kyogen (traditional Japanese comic theater), bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre), or a noh play. Each performance is organized into a 5-10 minute show, so it can be enjoyed casually.
Hanamikoji Street
Walk from Hanamikoji-dori Street, lined with historic teahouses and restaurants, to Gion Shimbashi, an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. Partway through, enjoy the atmosphere of an evening in Gion illuminated by paper lanterns that vary by area, and visit the Tatsumi Shrine, also known as Gion's Inari Shrine, where maiko pray for improvement in their art.
Options
5:05 PM Departure
Reviews
6 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
Performance Gion corner, quick walk around the neighborhood, zen tempura meal + tea ceremony and hostel visit
Marie-Abane G,
Jun 15, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Friendly guide, beautiful show, refined meal then immersive and authentic matcha tasting. The staff was very helpful.
Gion district Maiko tea experience
510julietf,
May 8, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00A wonderful and beautiful experience. Thank you to our guide Momo for all the interesting history and traditions and to Asuha for her hospitality and beautiful dancing. A truly unforgettable afternoon.
Amazing traditional night in Kyoto
AJRoen,
Mar 25, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We had a great experience with our guide. The traditional performing arts was very interesting seeing all the different acts. Then we proceeded to walk through Guion and caught a glimpse of a geisha enter in her car. We wrap the evening up with dinner and a traditional tea ceremony that was fantastic.
Good experience, but has potential to be much better…
Lizzie D,
Nov 21, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
3.00Overall, I think the tour was good. however, I think it needs some tweaking. I spent the first 1:20 traveling w/the guide to get the other attendees at their pick up location and then head to the theater. I wish meeting at the theater had been offered, especially since my starting point at my hotel was closer to the theater than my pick up given to me or the other pickup location. we literally passed my hotel on the way to the second location(an hour after I arrived to the pick up Hotel written on the experience as my meet up place🤦🏼♀️) The breakdown of the tour is, Gion center theater for a 50 min Show, walk to Ryokan for set dinner and tea ceremony. The guide is just chaperoning you to locations but not involved in the events, which is a little weird. However, I did have a good experience. Just wish some things were explained better and time management was handled better. And contrary to the pictures you are not having any interactions with Maikos, this is just an image from the theater show. * also please know that the dinner served is a Zen meal and all fried. Thank goodness no one in the group had any allergy issues since it was never asked or stated what dinners was going to be. It was a set meal.
Ryokan and Japanese Theatre
Freedom45022200393,
Nov 6, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Everything was well organized and the food was delicious! The staff of the Ryokan was lovely!! A good option would be asking to meet directly in Gion in front of the theatre to save time.
Half fun
Adam P,
Apr 18, 2024
- Review from Viator
3.00This was an interesting tour. First, the guide met us at a hotel quite far away from the venue itself. I wish we could've just met at the first venue as we had to take a taxi ride across town during rush hour and meet at 4:45 when the first program started at 6. We then took another taxi to the program which was super close to our hotel which we came from. So it would've been nice to have the option to just meet them at the venue or at the meeting place. We got to the program which was of traditional art/programs of Japan. The guide got us the tickets and ushered us to our seats but we got there so early we just sat in the auditorium for 35 minutes. The tradtional japaneses program was very strange and quite boring. I'm glad that it was short snipits of each otherwise we would've fallen asleep. It was nice to see a little bit of these but I looked around and it didn't appear anyone in the audience was enjoying it. It was all in Japanese and the crowd was full of tourists so during the comedy part no one laughed because no one understood it. I don't think it was a complete waste of time but it wasn't enjoyable either. Then the guide walked us to the next stop which is where we were to have dinner. I think that he was supposed to give us a little bit of informaiton about the surroundings but his english was quite limited so if you asked him questions he was not able to answer. We arrived at the "restaurant", I put that in parentheses because I don't think it was an actual restaurant, it was attached to a guest house and they served us food. The staff was very nice, they served us tempura all vegetarian, the food was fine but really rushed. They all stood and stared at the 6 of us while we ate. After dinner they took us to a tea room and gave us information on the tea and how it was served. The tea expert was an older woman and she served us matcha tea while the staff member explained the traditions to us. It was enjoyable, the matcha was good they gave us some sweet bean jelly to go with it which helps with the tea taste. Overall the tour was ok, I think it was overpriced especially since we really didn't receive an english guide and he was bascially just an usher around. If you can source tickets yourself, you are better off.
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