Have you ever wanted to take a trip back in time and walk the streets of historical Japan in the Edo period? Perhaps you’ve always wanted to see a passionate samurai showdown with their swords clashing furiously or maybe you’d like to be lucky enough to spot a ninja sneaking across buildings. If you’ve ever wished to experience the atmosphere and culture of that era, you can do that and more at Uzumasa Kyoto Village.
Formerly known as Toei Kyoto Studio Park, the creators behind this exciting space are no strangers to creating an immersive historical experience. In fact, this park has served as the set for many historical movies known as jidaigeki and the Uzumasa area itself has a rich history of filmmaking. Kyoto is credited as the birthplace of Japanese cinema and Uzumasa was known as the Hollywood of Japan. With such an impressive past, you can sense their attention to detail in every aspect of the park and it is sure to appeal to movie buffs and history lovers alike.
We were given the opportunity to experience the newly renewed park just before its phase one opening day on March 28th, 2026, and expectations were high. One of the goals of the new park was to make it more enjoyable for adults with new “adults-only” attractions that would take place in the evenings. Another must-see feature of the renewal was the 360-degree real-time drama that would be taking place within the park as we wandered around. Not only would it be a treat to see the scenes of a drama unfolding before our very eyes, it would also add to the immersive experience. The highlight of the drama would be a traditional Japanese bridal procession.
From the moment we walked into the park the actors dressed in period appropriate clothing immediately pulled us into their world. A lively town crier gathered a small crowd together as she began to set the stage for the drama that was to take place.
The park is built to resemble an actual townscape with various shops and businesses offering a variety of experiences and wares to both educate and entertain.
As you walk through the streets, you encounter various characters who seem to have leaped off the pages of a history book, living their lives and going about their business.
However, if you call out to them, they are more than happy to offer you assistance and help you enjoy your time there which includes posing for photos.
The park offers various hand-on cultural activities that change depending on the day. On this day, the activity was flower arrangement. You could choose to participate or simply observe as the instructor produced an elegant arrangement before your very eyes.
If you wanted to try something more invigorating, you could opt for swordsmanship training from a samurai. Just like a scene out of a movie, you can receive training in the correct way to stand, hold and swing a sword. By the end of it, you’ll surely feel like a samurai yourself.
For those interested in the history of the park, there is a museum that gives an overview of the 100 years of filmmaking in the Uzumasa area. Even more, as we ventured further inside, we were able to take a look at actual costumes, posters and props that have been used in films throughout the years. Any movie lover is sure to feel a thrill at being in that space.
We entered one of the traditional houses (making sure to take our shoes off) and tested our luck in games and in love with a variety of activities including a roulette game and a love fortune that used traditional hanafuda cards. The instructions for the fortune was written in both Japanese and English to ensure that most customers could understand. In fact, throughout the park most written menus and instructions were given in both languages, something that we appreciated.
After milling about and enjoying the atmosphere of the town, the sound of music alerted us that the highly anticipated bridal procession was about to begin. Under the branches of a cherry blossom tree, the drama continued to unfold with each member of the bridal party taking their place beginning with the father of the bride and ending with the bride herself being led by her mother.
The mother of the bride proudly welcomed the crowd to her daughter’s bridal procession and offered an explanation of the ceremony as well as the significance of the bride’s outfit and accessories as she adorned her.
Once she finished explaining everything the procession began, moving slowly and gracefully through the streets of the town. The bride’s face remained mostly obscured by her veil but just underneath there was the hint of a smile for her special day. As the procession made its way through the town, they were joined by the town’s inhabitants who were happily exclaiming and commenting on the joyous occasion.
The procession made a full circuit of the town and returned to the cherry blossom tree where the bride met the groom on a stage. Before the ceremony could continue however, the proceedings were suddenly interrupted by the presence of a villain and his minions out for blood. The crowd looked on in rapt attention as the lives of the bridal party were suddenly placed in peril.
Luckily, none other than the Shinsengumi themselves had gotten wind of the devious plot and appeared just in time to take on the villains. What happened next was a whirlwind of furious swordplay and theatrics as both sides battled for victory.
The villains were no match for the Shinsengumi and they were eventually defeated in a dramatic conclusion. The crowd cheered as the actors all took their bows and left the stage.
As evening fell, we were able to experience the “adult-only” areas of the park which included a torture room and a gambling hall. The torture room allowed us to be spectators to an old-fashioned interrogation which included the use of “torture”.
The actors went all out and hammed it up for the crowd but they were polite enough to let us know that it doesn’t actually hurt! In fact, if anyone in the audience wanted to experience being a “convicted criminal” they could step into the shoes of a suspect and see for themselves what the torture was like.
Finally we watched players try their luck at the thrilling gambling hall. Led by an unflappable trio of dealers, participants played several rounds of a game where they tried to guess the outcome of the roll of the dice.
As night fell, the charm of the Edo-era town became even more apparent as soft lights glowed from the buildings making it a pleasure to wander around and see how the space differed between night and day.
With reluctance, we left the past behind and headed back to the modern day world having spent a satisfying day experiencing some of the highlights that Uzumasa Kyoto Village had to offer.
For more information about their opening hours, attractions, events and admission fees, be sure to visit their official website here.