Tea ceremony

Did I already mention my second favorite class? "Japanese History, Society, and Culture" with Professor Kazumi Nagaike. She is not the typical Japanese. She is very lively, makes many jokes, has A LOT of energy. If the average Japanese was a sparrow, she would be an eagle! She told us we could call her Princess Nagaike, Kazumi, or anything else that we like to use as a nickname. Again, she is NOT the average Japanese woman. She has lived in Canada for 8 years, maybe this is where her "being different" comes from.

On our syllabus for last week following subject for our lecture was scheduled: Experiencing Japanese Culture (tea ceremony)! We were actually to have a real tea master coming to our class and practicing with us a traditional Japanese tea ceremony!

The Japanese tea ceremony - if you google it, you get more than 1,6 million hits! And this is only in English, I do not know how many you get, when you also look for Japanese sites. Type it in amazon.com and you get more than 2,000 books...

The tea ceremony is a deeply rooted in the Japanese culture, its tradition goes back hundreds of years ago. You can say that it started when tea was introduced to Japan. Japan is probably the only nation, which, after the introduction of tea in its country, designed a special room for drinking tea. Special etiquette, rules, utensils, etc. were created over time for the purpose of drinking tea. There is a whole philosophy which underlies the tea ceremony.

Did you know that it takes at least 10 years to become a tea master? Naigaikesensei said, that there are special schools designed for the tea ceremonies. There is even a university for tea ceremonies!

The tea ceremony is embedded in the concept of wabi and sabi from the Kamakura period, about the year 1200 - simple and quiet beauty. It is really quiet. Nothing really happens there. I can imagine a piano player practicing for 10 years until he becomes gradually better. But I cannot picture what an aspiring tea master does during his 10 learning years!

Our teachers for the day: a tea master (right) and her assistants. 

The founder of the tea ceremony was Sennorikyuu in the Edo period. His sons founded different schools. There are 5 different schools of tea ceremony. The school, which we experienced here, is named urasenke.

 

Tatami, carpet, and utensils were set up to resemble a tea room. 

Tea ceremonies are something special, which are only conducted at special occasions. Tea ceremonies are not only the physical act of preparing and drinking tea. There is a whole philosophy of the aestheticism of tea behind it. The Japanese tea ceremony is special, because it is a spiritual side and can be described as an art form.

 

There is always a scroll like this at tea ceremonies. This one says "Flower blossom on a mountain". The messages are chosen by the host, considering the occasion, the season, and his guests. The guest should take some time admiring the scroll, because the host has put much thought on it.

  

Matcha tea powder and a bamboo whisk for beating the tea.

 

The women prepare themselves and the equipment.

 

The tea master makes her way to the tea preparing place.

 

The equipement has been set up: cattle with hot water, tea caddy with the matcha powder, bowl for the tea.

 

First, all the utensils have to be cleaned. This is conducted in a strict manner, every single move is predetermined: in which way to fold the cleaning cloth, how many times to wipe each device, the exact place where to put the utensils, ...

 

The tea master gets water from the kettle with this ladle to clean the bowl.

  

The devices needed

 

Nagaikesensei demonstrates how to behave as a guest. Also as a guest you  have to follow specific rules. What to say, how to drink, in which way to hold the bowl, which hand to hold the bowl, in which direction to turn the bowl with how many movements,...

 

The students listen with interest. This was worth a picture, because we usually do not look like this.

 

The guest is supposed to eat the sweets (kashi) before drinking the tea, which is bitter.The sweets are placed on some soft paper (kaishi) in front of each guest. Before eating you have to ask permission of the other guests: "osakini", which means "excuse me for going before you".

 

Usually moist cakes made from sweet bean paste are served. They are called  omogashi. This omogashi was very delicious!  And it looks so pretty, too.

 

These are higashi, they are drier than omogashi.

 

 Higashi

Yummy

 

After the guest has eaten the sweets, the assistant will bring you tea. You thank her with a bow and ありがとうございます。

 

Nagaikesensei explains how to drink the tea. Before drinking it you should say to other guests who are already drinking "otemae chodai itashimasu", which means "please allow me to share tea with you". And to guests who have not had tea yet you say "osakini". Then you should turn to the host and thank her for the tea. 

The guest has to pick up the tea with his right hand and put it in the palm of his left hand. The guest turns the bowl, so that its decorative side faces 180 degrees away from him. 

After finishing the tea you should admire the bowl.

 

Then it was our turn to make tea! Miriam goes first.

 

I also tried my luck. It is more difficult than it looks! Every move is predetermined, even where to place the hand which you do not use.

 

Even water from a modern water cooker is taken out with the ladle.

 

 Riikka under the watchful eyes of the tea master.

 

 The tea bowls are a science for themselves. There are really valuable ones, on which you can easily spend thousands of Euros.

 

All women wear kimonos. There are different ranks in kimonos and for each occasion the appropriate one has to be picked These kimonos are called komon because they have the same pattern from top to bottom. At the back of the kimono a family symbol is embroidered.

There are different techniques of tying these kind of kimono belts.

 

The kimono belt

 

She places her fan in front of her before bowing. It is supposed to symbolize the border between herself and the other person. It declares each other's areas. Notice also that her hands form a triangle.

Today was a really interesting experience. The tea ceremony is related to the Zen philosophy, which makes tea drinking not only the drinking of tea. Japan not only embraces new technology, science, and modernization of the society. It is nice to see that Japan still preserves this tradition and is still proud of it, although today's world evolves so fast.

If you are interested in the tea ceremony, I think the book "The Tea Ceremony" by Sendo Tanaka gives a pretty detailed and nicely illustrated introduction.