Kyoto: Samurai Movie Star Experience at Historic Temple

5.00

(131 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll be honest—I almost chickened out when I saw the hakama laid out for me inside Myokaku-ji Temple. Something about the quiet air and the smell of old wood made it feel serious, like I was trespassing on someone else’s story. But our samurai guide (he’s an actual actor, which I didn’t expect) just grinned and helped me tie the belt properly. He spoke English with this careful effort—sometimes pausing to find the right word—which somehow made me relax a bit. I guess nobody here is pretending to be perfect.

We practiced sword moves under these enormous trees, their leaves flickering shadows across the gravel. The sword wasn’t sharp but still had this cold weight in my hands. When he showed me how to draw it, there was this little “whoosh” that made everyone laugh—especially when I nearly dropped mine. I could hear some distant chanting from inside the temple, which felt oddly grounding while we tried to look fierce for the camera. The whole private samurai experience felt both playful and strangely respectful at once.

The filming part was actually more fun than embarrassing, even though I’m not exactly movie material. Our guide gave tips on stance (“more knees!”), then filmed us from different angles so it looked dramatic—he even let us use our phones for extra photos. At one point he tried teaching me a line in Japanese; Li laughed when I tried to say it—probably butchered it completely. Still, there’s something about seeing yourself on video swinging a sword in Kyoto that sticks with you longer than you’d think.