Hokuriku

An evening ozashiki party for your group alone at Kaikaro, the largest teahouse in the Higashi Chaya district: geisha perform dance, taiko and shamisen over a dinner of seasonal Kanazawa food served on local craft tableware. The proprietress, Hanako Baba, speaks English; one group is taken per night.

Kaiseki dinner at Kenrokutei, a teahouse inside Kenrokuen by the garden's old fountain, served after the garden has closed to the public, with two geiko (a dancer and a musician) performing and talking with you through an English interpreter. One group a night, 6 to 8 p.m.

A daytime hour and a half in one of the five working teahouses of the Nishi Chaya district: two geiko show you round, explain their kimono, hair and customs, dance and play taiko and flute, and play the old party games with you, with an English interpreter.

Tea in the tearoom of the nearly hundred-year-old home of Yuta Takahashi, an associate instructor of the Enshu school, near the Nishi Chaya district, with a look behind the scenes of how a gathering is prepared. Private, for up to six.

A private morning in the Higashi Chaya district: a walk with an English-speaking guide, then a chakaiseki breakfast, a monko incense ceremony and tea, all hosted by Mr Suzuoki, chef, tea master and second-generation owner of the restaurant Suzuoki.

Two hours on foot through the Higashi Chaya and Kazuemachi teahouse districts along the Asano river with a local guide who knows them, for your party alone.

A visit to Kinzangama, the Kutani overglaze kiln the Yoshida family has run since 1906, to meet its artists and artisans and apply gold leaf to a coloured Kutani piece with their professional tools. For guests of Beniya Mukayu, which we book, staying two nights or more.

Two hours in the studio of Tomizo Saratani, a lacquer artist who has restored lacquerware for museums and auction houses since the late 1970s, learning how urushi works and decorating your own piece in maki-e with lacquer powder, shell or gold. For guests of Beniya Mukayu, which we book, staying two nights or more.

Two hours at the mountain studio near Yamanaka of the woodturner Terai Laku, a graduate of Yamanaka's four-year woodturning school: you sketch a piece and turn it from a single block, and he lacquers it and sends it to you about three months later. For guests of Beniya Mukayu, which we book, staying two nights or more.

A bowl of tea made by Mr and Mrs Nakamichi, the owners of the Relais & Châteaux ryokan Beniya Mukayu, and twenty minutes of conversation with them. For guests of Beniya Mukayu, which we book, staying two nights or more.