Delve into the traditions of Japan with a tea ceremony experience (Sa-do) at Kumaya Art Museum in Hagi, Yamaguchi pref. Find out how to use tea utensils, taste wagashi (Japanese sweets).

The museum’s collection is displayed in three large storehouses (kura) on the grounds. The Kumaya family, wealthy merchants and official purveyors to the Mōri lords during the Edo period, collected items such as ink paintings, tea utensils, documents, and books. Notably, the museum features Japan’s oldest piano, a British-style pianoforte gifted by Dr. Philipp Franz von Siebold in 1828.

The meticulously kept Edo-period gardens feature holly trees and a trio of pine, fir, and Elaeocarpus trees pruned in the “round, triangular, square” (maru sankaku shikaku) format favoured in Zen art. A 600-year-old cycad and a 300-year-old Yōgō pine tree also grow in the garden.