Fujita Kanko Inc., a leading Japanese hospitality company, is launching a series of traditional Japanese art and culture activities at its flagship property, Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, which currently operates as Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so. Fujita Kanko, the owner of the luxury property, is taking over its management and rebranding it as Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo on January 1, 2013.
The hotel, known for its majestic 17-acre Japanese garden in the center of Tokyo, and with a history going back hundreds of years, regularly hosts royalty, state leaders and business world luminaries. In 1918 Baron Heitaro Fujita, from the founding family of the company now known as Fujita Kanko, acquired Chinzanso from Japan’s Prince Aritomo Yamagata.
“Our property is a living history site, full of both centuries-old examples of traditional Japanese culture and historical monuments,” said Kazumasa Suezawa, Fujita Kanko’s President and CEO. “To celebrate the rebranding of our flagship property to Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, we want to make good use of and emphasize these assets – our authentic Japanese arts and culture – in our services to guests.”
The company has already launched two of the new activities for guests: the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, which has a 1,400-year history, and the creation of “moss ball bonsai.” The one-hour tea ceremonies are performed by the hotel’s own tea masters in two historic, authentic tea houses on the property.
The art form of creating moss ball bonsai uses a baseball-sized ball of soil covered in green moss to serve as a sort of flowerpot for the miniature bonsai trees. It is taught in a weekly workshop by a licensed Japanese landscape gardener who has taken care of the Chinzanso’s botanical garden for the past 30 years.
The schedules and costs for these activities, which require an advance reservation, are available from the hotel by telephone (81-3-3943-2222), or, upon arrival at the hotel, from the concierge.