Tokyo Graceful Autumn Stay at HOSHINOYA Tokyo

miniature Japanese garden making

HOSHINOYA Tokyo, a tower of Ryokan located in Otemachi, Tokyo, is hosting an autumn program called “Tokyo Graceful Autumn Stay” from 1 September to 30 November 2022. This program is a two-day, one-night stay where guests can enjoy activities inspired by the autumn life of people in the Edo period who loved nature and a special breakfast that uses a lot of autumn flavors such as five grains, seafood and vegetables. Highlights of this program include miniature Japanese garden making in which guests create a garden while imagining mountain scenery colored in red and yellow, and the moonlight rickshaw ride in which the elegant autumn night can be fully enjoyed. Experience a peaceful and elegant time in autumn of Japan whilst in the city center.

Background

The Edo period was said to be a peaceful time, and the culture of appreciating nature such as cherry blossom viewing, moon viewing and gardening spread. During autumn, people enjoyed the beautiful autumn leaves and the moon, so people went to the nearby mountains to see autumn leaves or to view the moon from the waterfront or a hill. In addition, it is said that people around this time enjoyed autumn by listening to the sound of insects in the garden, heightening the feeling of autumn and allowing them to use more of their five senses. This program was developed to follow the lives of people of the Edo period, and to encourage guests to enjoy the beautiful autumn in modern Tokyo, where there are fewer opportunities to experience nature.

Characteristics of Tokyo Graceful Autumn Stay

Characteristic 1: Feel Autumn from your rooms through miniature Japanese garden making
Enjoy the beauty of autumn leaves from the guest rooms through miniature Japanese garden making, which takes inspiration from bonkei, tray landscapes. Tray landscape designer Tomoya Katsumata is in charge of decorations inside HOSHINOYA Tokyo and will be teaching guests the history and the procedure involved in making miniature landscape gardens. This is a hands-on experience of making an original miniature landscape garden while imagining the scenery of a mountain colored in red and yellow. The secret to making it well is to place the soil with different heights according to the envisioned scenery. Then, the bonsai tree with its leaves colored red and yellow will be planted and the position of moss, stone and white sand will be decided for. Using tools, the length of the moss can be adjusted, and a pattern can be drawn in the sand in order to make an original miniature landscape garden.

Tray Landscape Designer, Tomoya Katsumata

Raised by his mother, who was a professional in flower arrangement, he was familiar with plants from a very young age. After completing his studies, he worked at a major flower arrangement store, and also learned about shitsurai, the art of décor that reflects the seasons, in Japanese restaurants, tea rooms, and Japanese-style housing. In addition, he interacted with overseas spatial designers and supervised Japanese decorative designs at events held overseas to promote Japanese culture. Following this, he studied tea ceremony, ceramics, and bonsai making in order to delve deeper into Japanese culture. He currently has his own studio and works together with craftsmen who have inherited traditional Japanese culture to produce new forms of shitsurai suited to modern Japanese-style housing.

Bonsai Selection Experience

In order to enjoy miniature Japanese garden making, guests can choose bonsai of their liking. Mr. Katsumata will accompany you to a bonsai garden with a variety of bonsai, soil, and stones and explain the points to note when choosing the type of bonsai, so that you can choose the one you like.
Price: 11,000 JPY for 1 person, 16,500 JPY for 2 persons (tax and service charge included)

Characteristic 2: Autumn Sencha Green Tea Tasting while gazing at your miniature Japanese Garden
While gazing at the miniature landscape garden you have made, drink and compare sencha that has been carefully selected by the oldest sencha tea seller in Japan, Yamamotoyama, established in Nihonbashi in 1690.

This experience is modeled after the people of the Edo period who enjoyed viewing autumn leaves while enjoying the new tea leaves of autumn. Enjoy autumn sweets, such as potato and chestnut mont blanc, Japanese pear sorbet and blancmange, and fig mille-feuille together with your tea.

Autumn Sencha Green Tea Tasting

・Ujicha, characterized by its refined fragrance and taste, uses tea leaves picked in spring and matured until autumn
・Sayamacha, is perfect for autumn, which is said to be a season for when people miss rich flavors
・Sencha, exclusive to this plan and suited for drinking with autumn sweets

Characteristic 3: Rickshaw ride on a moonlit autumn night

After dinner, go on a rickshaw tour around the Imperial Palace, Otemachi and Marunouchi areas. Autumn, with its clear skies, is the season when the moon looks it’s most beautiful. In the outer garden of the Imperial Palace, where there are few tall buildings and the sky is wide open, the views of the moon floating over the cityscape can be seen, a viewpoint unique to a rickshaw ride. On Gyoko-dori Avenue in Marunouchi, rows of lit-up ginkgo trees that have begun to turn yellow can be encountered.

Characteristic 4: Special Breakfast for a taste of the season

Breakfast features plenty of vegetables and seafood that is in season in autumn. There will be chestnut rice, millet salad, and grilled autumn salmon. Chestnuts and foxtail millets are ingredients that were enjoyed by people in the Edo Period as they expressed their gratitude for the blessings of nature. In addition, a meal full of seasonal flavors can be enjoyed, one of which uses sea bream, where autumn is one of the seasons for the best of its kind.

About HOSHINOYA Tokyo

Address: 1-9-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 104-0004
Price: Starts from 112,000 JPY per night per room (includes tax and service charge, excludes meals)
Number of Rooms: 84
Check-in: 3:00 pm / Check-out: 12:00 pm
Directions: Approximately 2 minutes by walk from Otemachi Station or 10-minute walk from Tokyo Station
Website: https://hoshinoya.com/tokyo/en/