三津寺 お茶室 at Dotonbori, Osaka

Tea ceremony room at Mitsutera, an ancient temple founded in 744 in central Shinsaibashi.

The Mitsutera tea room (ochashitsu) sits within the grounds of Shippozan Daifuku-in Mitsutera, an esoteric Buddhist temple founded in 744 by the monk Gyoki on the orders of Emperor Shomu. Tucked into the bustling Shinsaibashi-suji area, the temple is affectionately known as "Minami no Kannon-san" - the Kannon of the south - and its tea room offers a calm, contemplative space for traditional tea ceremony practice and experience within a few minutes' walk of Shinsaibashi's shopping arcades. The temple enshrines an Eleven-faced Kannon as its principal image, alongside Yakushi Nyorai and Kobo Daishi, and the current main hall dates from 1808 - remarkably, it survived the wartime air raids that levelled the surrounding city. The tea room complements this contemplative setting, giving visitors and locals a place to experience chanoyu, the Japanese way of tea, in surroundings that feel far removed from the commercial rush just beyond the temple gates. If you would like to taste the quiet, ritualised pleasure of a Japanese tea ceremony in an authentically ancient temple setting right in central Osaka, Mitsutera's tea room is a rare and restorative detour from the Shinsaibashi crowds.