Copy link Copied Copy link Copied Subscribe to gift this article Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Already a subscriber? Login I slowly rub my hands together and bring my palms up to my face. I close my eyes as instructed and breathe in gently.
A delicate, sweet, earthy scent fills my nostrils as I’m invited to centre myself in time and space. I open my eyes and take a sip of the tea created just for this moment: a deeply aromatic blend of mugwort, lemon verbena and angelica root. I begin to feel remarkably relaxed and forget about the hordes of tourists in the streets outside.
The 81-room Six Senses Kyoto takes its cues from the arts and crafts of the Heian period (794-1185) when Kyoto was the Japanese capital. This welcome ritual, inspired by the Buddhist zuko practice of cleansing one’s hands with incense, is offered to all guests at Six Senses Kyoto, the new 81-room luxury hotel which opened in the increasingly popular Japanese city in April. The ritual is an example of the “emotional hospitality” hallmark of all 26 Six Senses properties worldwide, but is also a very effective way of plugging each visitor directly into the culture of this historic place.
The flavours of the tea I’m offered on arrival, for example, are a representation of kokuu, one of the many micro-seasons or sekki of Japan. This brief, two-week period following the cherry blossoms, is when the trees are full of tender lime-green leaves: as I sip, I’m looking.