観光 / 21 August 2026

Visiting a Teahouse in Higashi Chaya: Shima vs Kaikaro

An ochaya is not a tea shop. It is a teahouse where guests are entertained by geigi — Kanazawa’s geisha — with dance, shamisen and drums. For two hundred years these were private rooms you could not enter without an introduction.

Two of them in Higashi Chaya are open to anyone, every day, no reservation. Shima and Kaikaro, both built in 1820.

The short answer

Reservation is not required at either. Walk in and pay at the entrance. Kaikaro asks groups of 10 or more to book ahead through its group form.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Shima if you came for the architecture. It is one of very few teahouses in Japan designated a National Important Cultural Property, and the interior is preserved as it stood in 1820 — not restored to look old, but genuinely unchanged. At ¥500 it is also the better value.

Pick Kaikaro if you came for the atmosphere. It is the largest teahouse in Kanazawa and it is still in use: by night it hosts real banquets, one party at a time, on an introduction-only basis. Because it performs for guests, it is the more theatrical of the two — a vermilion staircase, a room floored with gold leaf.

Doing both takes about two hours and costs ¥1,250. They are a few minutes’ walk apart, so this is entirely reasonable.

What to know before you go

Bring cash

Neither teahouse publishes which payment methods it accepts. Assume cash. This is true across the district generally — small shops and older establishments here often do not take cards, and IC cards like Suica are for transport, not for admission.

Carry at least ¥2,000 in cash per person for the day. See getting to Higashi Chaya for why you want coins for the bus, too.

You will take your shoes off

You enter the tatami rooms in socks. Wear shoes you can slip off and back on easily — this comes up repeatedly in Japan and this is one of the places it matters. Socks with holes are a genuine embarrassment here.

Go early in the day, not late

This is the single most common mistake. Both close in the 17:00 hour, and Kaikaro stops admitting visitors at 16:30. The district’s streets look their best at dusk, so visitors save the teahouses for the end of the day and arrive to find them shut.

Do it the other way around: teahouses first, then the streets as the light goes. Shops in the district also close around 17:00–17:30, so morning and early afternoon is when the district is actually open for business.

Photography rules differ by building

Each teahouse sets its own policy, posted inside. Follow the signs and the staff. Do not assume that because a room is beautiful it is photographable.

Will I see a geigi?

Not at these two buildings. They are open for the architecture; performances are not part of general admission.

Geigi in Kanazawa are working professionals — there are six active teahouses in Higashi Chaya and more than twenty geigi listed for the district. If you want to see them perform, that is a separate booking, and options range from about ¥1,500 for a public recital to ¥16,500 for an hour in a working teahouse. Note that Kanazawa has no maiko; the term used here is geigi, and the apprentice stage is called shikomi.

If you are in Kanazawa on 19–20 September 2026, the annual Kanazawa Odori brings the geigi of all three districts onto one stage at the Ishikawa Prefectural Concert Hall (¥7,700–¥9,900).

Nearby

• Kazue-machi — the second geisha district, across the river and far quieter
• Nishi Chaya — the third district, on the other side of the city
• The history of Higashi Chaya — chartered 1820, and honest about what life here cost the women who lived it

※ Admission fees and hours verified 21 August 2026 against Kaikaro’s official site and the Kanazawa City Tourism Association listing for Shima. Hours vary seasonally and Kaikaro closes irregularly for private events — check before you go.

Start from the Higashi Chaya Guide for the district as a whole.