Toraya's tearoom in Kyoto, the city where the confectioner was founded. Renovated in 2009 to a design by architect Hiroshi Naito, it has a ceiling of Yoshino cedar that curves in a gentle arch. The garden on the north side has a water basin, a lawn, plum and cherry trees, and an old storehouse and a small Inari shrine at the back. The seasonal sweets change twice a month; this time I had a three-colored sweet, a white bun and matcha.
400 Hirohashidono-cho, Ichijo-dori Karasuma Nishi-iru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto
Sources: rurubu.jp
This moment in the journey
Tea time, looking out on the garden
In the afternoon I went from the banks of the Shirakawa up to Kamigyo. A townhouse with a blue noren curtain, a red lantern beside a purple noren, white plum blossoms just opening on a mossy branch: the end of winter in Kyoto.
My destination was Toraya Karyo Kyoto Ichijo, near Karasuma-Ichijo, the tearoom of the confectioner Toraya in the city where it was founded. Under a cedar ceiling that curves in a gentle arch, I took a seat looking out through the glass onto the garden.
On a black tray came a seasonal sweet layered in yellow, white and pink, a white bun stamped with a pink mark, and a bowl of freshly whisked matcha. Tea time, looking out on a garden, the Kyoto way. On the table stood pink chrysanthemums. A slow afternoon. A happy hour.
Watch this scene on YouTube2:29
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