Tondaya -Nishijin Japanese Cultural Experience Museum — Restaurant in Kyoto

完璧！A perfect experience. My mother was visiting Japan from the United States and said that doing a tea ceremony and trying on a kimono were at the top of her experience list. As a family, we also love architecture, gardens, and history. If any of these things ring true for you, then the tea ceremony/kimono experience at Tondaya cannot be missed.

The number one part of this experience was the friendly, knowledgeable, accommodating staff. They were highly organized, guiding us from putting on clothes to the tea ceremony with ease and fluent English. They made putting on the clothes simple. Most importantly, they were so knowledgeable about history and culture. We particularly enjoyed finding similarities between our own Indian culture and their Japanese culture. A particular thanks to the young woman who was our primary guide. She not only dressed us and performed the tea ceremony, but answered all our questions and took beautiful photos of us. She’s a true professional!

Next, the setting cannot be missed. The Tondaya townhouse is gorgeous. It has six beautiful gardens. On a warm day, they opened the sliding doors and a gentle breeze came through that added to our enjoyment. The house is rich in history too. We really enjoyed learning about the Noh performances that took place there.

I could say more and more. Needless to say, don’t miss this experience. It’s also great for those, like us, who are too shy to wear the kimonos out in town, but are curious about the experience. It’s a private way to enjoy some delicious matcha tea in style. Thank you again!...

TL;DR: very unprofessional. Absolute tourist trap.

This place was a total hoax. We booked on the phone an Origami lesson. Since 'the school' is inside a museum we were asked to pay extra for the entrance fee and a tour in the museum. They said it's a requirement from all participant. They said it's an historic Japanese house. Oh well. For making 4 shapes of Origami+entrance+tour we didn't actually wanted it came up to 7500 yen a person(!).

We came at the booked time - 10am. The tour started. It was 5 min to the minute. Very shallow. The house is nice, it's a shame it was that shallow.

Since there was only one guide and another couple (who booked a tea ceremony), we were 'offered' to watch their tea ceremony show although we didn't pay (the guide can't split into two, no matter that we booked in advanced and they knew we were coming ) - but without participating and off course no tea.It felt weird just to sit there watching them drink tea so we left to wait in the hall.

We waited 20 min for our Origami lesson - just to find out the guide just downloaded from the internet the very basic shapes. She had less knowledge then we did, and for one of the shapes - the fish- we were ahead of her in following the instructions from the printed page. It was ridiculous.

Bottom line: they learnt they can make easy money out of tourists and they...

Had an amazing time at our private session talking to and watching a maiko perform for us. Truly an incredible time. The entire experience was excellent from beginning to end. We also got to explore the beautiful Edo-period home along with our super friendly and knowledgeable translator/guide. We were lucky enough to be there at the day of preparation for an upcoming, extensive display of antique kimonos. We got to see and touch magnificent works of artistry up close with our gracious host. It really was the best experience we had in Kyoto and Japan overall. Very highly recommended. Thank you so much! Hope to be back...