Japanese Art of the Seasons
Tokyo - Takayama - Kanazawa - KyotoEARLYBIRD SPECIAL!
Book before the 31 October and receive a $500 per person discount!
The sensitivity to the passing seasons born from ancient agricultural practices, the ritual calendar of the imperial household and Buddhist notions of transience still has many echoes in today’s Japan. Our tour begins with a parade of massive festival floats celebrating the start of the rice planting season in the mountain village of Takayama.
Kanazawa is an ancient city, site of traditional ceramics, lacquer and kimono production, and home to Kenrokuen, one of Japan’s most beautiful gardens, and the innovative 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art.
Our finale is Kyoto, the exquisite imperial capital for over one thousand years, Its art and architectural riches range from Zen gardens to samurai mansions and the geisha quarters. Key destinations are the Miho Museum and Gion, the geisha quarters.
The tour includes visits to artist studios and museums hard to access for the individual traveller. Our mix of rural and urban, traditional and contemporary will leave you exhilarated with the beauty of nature and culture. 
ITINERARY
Saturday 11 April 2009: Australia - Tokyo
Depart Sydney or Melbourne on Cathay Pacific Airways to Tokyo via Hong Kong. Evening arrival in Tokyo, transfer to the hotel.
Sunday 12 April: Tokyo
Morning visit to Sensoji, also known as the Asakusa Kannon Temple. The Buddhist temple in honour of ‘Kannon’, the goddess of mercy was completed in 645CE, making it Tokyo's oldest temple. The Nakamise Shopping Street leads from the outer gate to the temple's second gate, the Hozomon. Here you can purchase local arts and crafts as well as local snacks.
After a welcome lunch with Ann MacArthur, explore art galleries in the stylish and contemporary area known as Art Triangle Roppongi. These comprise the new National Arts Center, The Suntory Museum of Art and the Mori Museum.. The National Art Center is a unique and innovative art exhibition facility: Instead of maintaining a permanent collection, it makes the most of a total of 14,000 square meters of exhibition space, the largest in Japan, and focuses on serving as a venue for various art exhibitions. (B,L)
Monday 13 April: Tokyo - Takayama
Morning journey from Tokyo on the high-speed Shinkansen ('bullet train') via Nagoya to Takayama. Its isolated mountain location has meant the survival of unspoiled Edo-period streets lined with tiny shops, museums and eating places.
On arrival in Takayama, enjoy the scenic drive by Lake Miboro and along Shokawa River to Shirakawa-go, designated in 1995 as part of the World Heritage. Its highlights are unique structures called gassho-zukuri, or joined-hands farmhouses.
Your accommodation in the Hotel Village Shokawa Kogen is in individual cottages, each with a Western style bedroom, a Japanese tatami mat room, living room and private facilities. (B,D)
Tuesday 14 April: Takayama
Be part of the Sanno Matsuri (Takayama Spring Festival) taking place each year on the 14th and 15th of April to welcome the new season after a long hard winter.
The festival starts with a ritual ceremony at the Hie Jinja shrine, followed by a festival procession with hundreds of townspeople wearing traditional costumes. There are marionette performances dedicated to the gods and the Spring Festival floats are pulled out in preparation for the Night Festival, when beautifully decorated floats proceed through the town. (B,D)
Wednesday 15 April: Takayama
The second day of the festival is often considered the highlight of the festival. Watch the procession of floats including four marionette floats. ‘Mikoshi’, a portable float with the shrine's main god visits every household. The long procession featuring traditional music and people in traditional costume takes you back to old Japan. (B,D)
Thursday 16 April: Takayama - Kanazawa
Today travel to Kanazawa. Visit Gokayama, another World Heritage village, where you can experience making Gokayama washi, traditional Japanese paper. Arrive in Kanazawa, which to this day has retained a strong cultural identity. Kanazawa was historically shielded from outside influence by its location between alps and sea and supported by an ample rice yield, it was once the domain of the powerful Maeda clan. (B,D)
Friday 17 April: Kanazawa
Morning sightseeing in Kanazawa, visiting Kenroku-en Garden, one of Japan's three most beautiful traditional gardens. In the afternoon visit the Kutani Kosen Kiln to observe the process of creating Kanazawa’s signature elegant ceramic ware. Old Kutani-ware uses deep, over-glazed blues, greens and ochres; modern work has more delicate and varied designs. Visit Myoryu-ji, a Nichiren temple full of secret doors and passages. Established in 1643 as both a place of worship and a watchtower on the edge of town. (B,L)
Saturday 18 April: Kanazawa
Excursion to the city of Wajima located on the Noto Peninsula, a quiet region of fishing villages and untouched traditions. Wajima is famous for its lacquerware, known to be hard-wearing, thanks to a painstaking process involving over 70 coats of lacquer. Another feature unique to Wajima lacquerware is decoration utilizing a technique in which the surface of the lacquer is engraved and then filled in with gold leaf. Visit an artists studio. (B,L)
Sunday 19 April: Kanazawa
Morning visit to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art which opened in 2004 to explore emerging new work in visual arts, design, craft, fashion, architecture and film. After a break for lunch, continue to the Ishikawa Prefecture Traditional Products and Crafts Museum with sections on more than 30 Kanazawa crafts, such as silk, ceramics, gold leaf and folk toys and the nearby Honda Museum displaying the Honda family possessions. (B)
Monday 20 April: Kanazawa - Kyoto
Morning at leisure in Kanazawa. In the afternoon travel to Kyoto. Kyoto, with its hundreds of temples and gardens, was the imperial capital between 794 and 1868, and remains the cultural centre of Japan (B)
Tuesday 21 April: Kyoto
Today visit the elegant Nijo-jo Castle, built by the first Tokugawa Shogun, a striking example of the splendid decoration and luxury typifying the Momoyama period (1587-1615). Continue on to the Kyoto Handicrafts Centre. In the afternoon, visit Ryoan-ji Temple that houses the most famous Zen rock garden before visiting Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, built in 1397 as a villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. (B)
Wednesday 22 April: Kyoto
We visit the Miho Museum nestled within a 247 acre mountainous nature reserve which houses the Shumei Family Collection of rare treasures from the ancient world and traditional Japanese art. After lunch (at own expense), continue on to Shigaraki Village to view their famous ceramics. (B)
Thursday 23 April: Kyoto
This morning we stroll the Philosophers Path where it could be said Zen is in the air. The course follows a quiet tree lined canal connecting Ginkakau-ji, with its sand garden and wooden buildings dating from the 15th century, to the extensive buildings and grounds of one of the world’s largest Zen temples Nanzen-ji. Following a lunch of the famous tofu cuisine of the area we visit Hosomi Museum, a small and exquisite private collection of Japanese art. (B,L)
Friday 24 April: Kyoto
Excursion to nearby Nara. Visit Kasuga Shrine (768), hidden deep in the woods of the Nara Deer Park, and famous for its myriad of stone lanterns and its sacred deer, which are messengers of its Shinto Deities. Continue to Todai-ji, one of the world’s great wooden structures dating back to the 8th century. Amongst the many Buddhist images housed at Todai-ji is the Great Buddha, reputedly the largest bronze image in the world.
After lunch, visit the Nara National Museum, where the collection includes exquisite early Japanese art and artefacts and many treasures of surrounding temples dating back to the Nara (645-794) and Heian (794-1185) periods, and the Horyu-ji, one of the oldest existing temples in the world, with a large collection of cultural material dating from the Nara period (645-794). (B,L)
Saturday 25 April: Kyoto
Morning at leisure. Afternoon visit to the Gion District, Kyoto’s best-known Geisha quarter. Attend a tea service followed by a performance of the Miyako Odori (Cherry Blossom Dance) which has been performed at the Kaburenjo theatre during the month of April since 1873. Tonight attend a special farewell dinner. (B,D)
Sunday 26 April: Depart Kyoto
Transfer from Kyoto to Kansai airport for the afternoon departure on Cathay Pacific Airways via Hong Kong. (B)
Monday 27 April: Arrive Australia
Morning arrival in Sydney or Melbourne.
YOUR HOTELS ****
Tokyo – Park Hotel
Takayama – Hotel Village Shokoawa Kogen
Kanazawa – Kanazawa ANA Hotel
Kyoto – Rihga Royal Hotel
NB. Hotels of a similar standard may be substituted
