*
Request a quote

Call us +44 800 955 7500

Luminaire X Japan
 

Japan: Way of the Samurai

An experience by The Luminaire:
From Tokyo to Kyushu Island, train one-on-one in samurai combat and meet the craft and spiritual masters at the heart of this warrior class

Throughout 2025

Book Now

This experience has been created by our trusted partners The Luminaire, who design luxury travel experiences that offer a deeper understanding of the world. The journeys feature private access and insight from leading experts and can be booked as they are or personalised to your individual travel preferences.

On a five-day journey designed for Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, venture from the bright lights of the Japanese capital to the volcano-crowned seaside city of Kagoshima, gaining a unique perspective on Japan’s Edo period warrior nobles, the samurai. Privately meet the 15th-generation owner of a renowned pottery workshop that once supplied teacups to swordsmen, watch a performance of the Biwa by the country’s leading player, visit a dojo to train in the style of combat once practised by local samurai, and witness the head priest perform the sacred Shinto rites in the inner sanctum of a forest-ensconced mountain shrine.

Sword
Mountain range
Crafting
Way of the samurai

splitter.png

Day 1

  • Arrive at Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo
  • The Luminaire can make any evening arrangements for you, including dinner reservations at the hotel’s Tapas Molecular Bar, where chef Kento Ushikubo presents artistic dishes designed to stimulate the senses and the imagination

Day 2

  • Meet your driver and journey from Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo to Haneda Airport
  • Fly from Haneda to Kagoshima Airport (approx. 1 hr 50 mins)
  • Take a private transfer to the Chin Jukan Kiln,  a 400-year workshop celebrated internationally for its Satsuma ware pottery, and meet 15th-generation owner Chin Jukan.
  • Learn about Satsuma ware pottery and the aesthetics of the samurai class
  • Healthy medicinal cuisine is prepared for lunch at Chin Jukan Saryo, located on the kiln workshop grounds.
  • Meet your driver and transfer to Tamazato Garden
  • Watch Japan’s leading Satsuma Biwa player, Yamashita Tsuyoshi. The Satsuma Biwa is a stringed instrument resembling a lute, that was historically used as an accompaniment to storytelling
  • Dine at Umeya in Kagoshima City where the chef’s mission is to create artful Japanese cuisine with seasonal and local ingredients.
  • Stay overnight at modern private residence Hogetsu, which offers contemporary accommodation based on the designs of traditional samurai houses

Day 3

  • After a relaxed breakfast at Hogetsu, meet your driver for the day and transfer to Jigen-ryu
  • See the Swordsmanship Museum on a private tour, a small museum dedicated to the art of Japanese swordsmanship
  • Experience training in the traditional style of swordsmanship practiced by samurai, and take part in an esotetic Buddhist meditation practice at Jigen-ryu Swordsmanship Dojo
  • Have lunch at Sanei in Kagoshima, a mainstay of Kagoshima cuisine, founded 90 years ago by one of the Emperor’s private chefs.
  • Visit Sengan-en, stately home and former residence of the Shimadzu clan, Japan’s oldest warrior family
  • Journey to Wasure no Sato Gajoen, a beautiful forest hotel, and soak in the hot-spring onsen baths hewn out of solid 20-ton rocks
  • Eat a chef-prepared dinner, at Wasure no Sato Gajoen, using ingredients grown on its own farm, paired with shochu and sake
  • Stay overnight at Wasure no Sato Gajoen’s hamlet, in a peaceful suite facing the Amorigawa river

Day 4

  • After a relaxed breakfast, meet your driver for the day.
  • Journey to Ebino Kogen, a small town in the mountains of Kirishima
  • Climb Mount Karakuni and see the breathtaking views from highest peak in Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park
  • Pause for a bento box, a traditional Japanese home-packed lunch
  • Explore Takachiho-gawara, an important Shinto site of outstanding natural beauty
  • Tour the Manzen Distillery in private, a small, family-run operation producing highly respected shochu and view their art collection
  • Participate in a guided shochu tasting at Manzen Distillery
  • Dine and stay your second night at Wasure no Sato Gajoen

Day 5

  • After breakfast, meet your driver and journey to Kirishima Shrine, an important Shinto shrine set amid the forest built during the Muromachi Period (1333-1573). It has been destroyed numerous times by volcanic eruptions, but always rebuilt, the current shrine was constructed in 1715.
  • Witness the Shinto rites, that samurai lived by, in the shrine’s inner sanctum led by the head priest
  • Have lunch at Kirishima Jingu Station.
  • Meet your driver and transfer to Kagoshima Airport
  • Fly for 1hr 45minutes from Kagoshima to Haneda Airport, Tokyo
  • Choose to continue your journey in Japan or depart home

Enquire now to start designing your journey. Terms and conditions apply.

Book Now

Plan Your Flight

Let us draft a plan for you. Tell us where you are based, nature of your flights, preferred aircraft, times of the year you fly often and our team of aviation experts will happily give you a real life example of what flying with VistaJet will look like for you. Give us the chance to arrange a consultation and create a personal proposal that perfectly fits all your needs.

ENQUIRE