1 day · from Tokyo · up to 6 guests
If a television series brought you to Japan, you are in good company — and the history underneath it is better than the drama. Tokugawa Ieyasu was real. So was the English pilot William Adams, who washed up in Izu in 1600, became the only Westerner ever made a samurai, and is buried here under the name Miura Anjin. We spend the day at the places where it actually happened, with someone who can tell you which parts the story changed and why.
This is an independent history tour. BUSHIDO Tours Japan is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any television series, film or production company. We visit historical sites and tell you what happened there.
The Plan
A starting point, not a script. Everything here can be swapped or dropped on the day.
Two hours north. Coffee in the car, and the background you will want before you arrive.
The vermilion bridge at the entrance to the sacred mountain. The old road to the shrine begins here.
Ieyasu is enshrined here — deified as Tosho Daigongen, the Great Avatar Illuminating the East. Every surface is carved and gilded, which is precisely the political point.
Above the shrine, in cedar silence, is the bronze urn itself. Most tour groups never climb it.
Yuba — Nikko’s tofu skin, a temple food perfected over centuries. Vegetarian by nature.
Iemitsu’s mausoleum, deliberately built more modest than his grandfather’s. The restraint tells you everything about how the dynasty worked.
A lava gorge lined with about seventy stone Jizo statues in red caps. Count them twice and you get a different number — that is the local story, and it is true.
Drop-off in Tokyo around 19:00.
South, towards the sea he arrived on.
The hilltop memorial to William Adams and his Japanese wife. Quiet, unvisited, and the closest thing there is to his grave.
Where Japan met the outside world more than once. The Perry landing site is here too.
Then the Great Buddha and Hase-dera — the warrior capital that ran Japan before Edo existed.
The shrine of the god of war, and the spiritual centre of samurai rule for four centuries.
The Izu beach where Adams built Japan’s first Western-rigged ships, or the Tokyo street still named Anjin-cho after him.
If You Need It
Travelling with a baby, or a wheelchair, or a business meeting in the middle of the day —
none of it needs to be a problem. Tell us on the form and it is simply there.
Rear-facing infant seats for under-1s, fitted and checked before we arrive.
No charge
Japanese law requires a seat under age 6. Tell us the ages and we bring the right ones.
No charge
A folding stroller kept in the car all day, so you are not carrying one through an airport.
No charge
Six guests and six large suitcases do not fit one Alphard. A second vehicle follows.
From ¥40,000 / day
Arranged through our own rental arm — including Tesla. Delivered to your hotel with the paperwork done.
From ¥18,000 / day
A separate national-licence interpreter guide alongside the driver — for business visits, medical appointments or deep-history days.
From ¥60,000 / day
Chinese, Thai and Indonesian arranged through our own network in Nagoya.
Quoted
Met at arrivals with a name board; suitcases sent ahead to your next hotel.
From ¥3,000 / bag
Arranged with notice — we run a care business, so this is familiar ground.
Quoted
Waiting for you in the car on day one.
From ¥800 / day
Anything not on this list, ask anyway — the answer is usually yes.
Your Guide
Founder, BUSHIDO LLC · Representative, Nagoya Inbound Summit
Kensuke Ueoka — Master Ken — was born in Aichi to a mother who holds the rank of kyoshi in kyudo, and he had a bow in his hands before he had opinions about it. Forty years later he holds 4th dan in kyudo and 6th dan in calligraphy, rides yabusame — archery from a galloping horse — and runs BUSHIDO LLC from the province that produced the three warlords who unified Japan.
He is also the representative of the Nagoya Inbound Summit, a director of a care company running a group home for adults with disabilities, and a triathlete who gets up early enough to be irritating. The range is not scattered: kyudo taught him the axis, calligraphy taught him concentration, and the care work taught him what it means for a person to live with dignity. He guides the way he was taught to shoot — quietly, without exaggeration, with complete attention on the person in front of him.
Master Ken personally guides six days a month and no more — those are the A Day with Master Ken dates. Every other day is led by a BUSHIDO Certified Guide he has trained and signed off himself. If you want Ken specifically, say so on the form and we will tell you honestly which dates are still his.
BUSHIDO is not tourism. It is transformation.
BUSHIDO Certified Guides
Ken cannot be in six prefectures at once, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise. So every other guide who works under the BUSHIDO name has been through the same gate.
The philosophy first — rei, harmony, the reason a warrior class built a tea ceremony — then itinerary craft, pacing, and the things we do not do.
The first guided day is run with Ken in the car. Nobody is certified on paper alone.
Five stars and a written comment after each day. Two days below 4.5 and the guide retrains before working again.
Standards drift quietly. We check them on purpose.
It is the reason we can say yes to Hokkaido and Fukuoka in the same week without the day getting thinner.
Begin Your Journey
One private group per day — nationwide.
— dates are currently open, synced with Ken’s own calendar.
Inquiring is free. Nothing is charged until your itinerary is confirmed in writing.
We reply within 24 hours — Ken reads every message himself.
Nothing is charged at this stage. You receive a written itinerary and price first;
a 30% deposit by bank transfer confirms the date.
Guiding & hospitality by BUSHIDO LLC. Reservations, travel contracts and payment are handled by our licensed partner 有限会社ローライ (Rollei Co., Ltd.) — Aichi Prefecture Registered Travel Agency No. 3-1516. All vehicles are operated by licensed chartered-hire operators.
Payment & cancellation terms →
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