Calligraphy and Japanese cuisine lunch!

<<Yasmin's Experience Report>>

I’m so grateful for this absolutely gorgeous, traditional experience offered by our host, Junko Iba. She was a very graceful host and offered us attentive service and flawless translation during our meal and calligraphy session.

When we first arrived we were warmly greatly and were guided upstairs to the second floor of the beautiful Japanese architecture to the room where our calligraphy teacher awaited.

She presented us with an inkstick and an inkstone. Each had a beautiful design. We were told about how they were made from compacted charcoal and then showed the process of making ink with them. These days many people prefer the convenience of bottled ink as it is fast and cheap. The inkstick and inkstone are expensive items and not many people have the opportunity to use them since they are a serious investment. It was such a treat to experience the traditional method. I found it very relaxing and might have spent a lot longer than my friends on this part of the process.

We were taught how to hold the brush and the stroke order of each kanji to our names. It was a trial and error process getting used to the brush and writing the kanji correctly but luckily we had a lot of support and guidance from our talented (and patient!) teacher.

Once we were confident in our calligraphy skills, we were given a large banner to write onto. It was rewarding to see our final piece completed with all our names in our Japanese calligraphy.

Afterwards our teachers shared her works with us. There were stunning songs and poems written flawlessly by her on the most extravagant papers.

Following the calligraphy we were seated and treated to an absolutely delicious seven course meal. The presentation was beautiful! It was based around an autumn theme and you could tell a lot of thought had gone into each individual item on the menu.

We were served pickles, sashimi, grilled and marinated fish, vegetable tempura, winter comfort “ochazuke” and more! Everything tasted divine. There were items I wouldn’t ordinarily order, like the raw squid, but since everything looked and tasted so wonderful I gave them a go and wasn’t let down.

I highly recommend you make a booking. It’s such a great way to enjoy some authentic Japanese cuisine and participate in a traditional Japanese art in Chiba.

If you would like to have this experience, you can reserve through Calligraphy and Japanese cuisine lunch