The Way of Tea

Saturday

I spent the day relaxing in my apartment, watching movies and reading the internet. I tried to take it easy and get to sleep early because I had to get up somewhat early, for a Sunday anyway, in order to get to Tokyo for The Way of Tea (a tea ceremony). I ate some delicious mochi I received from one of my teachers and a sandwich cookie I received from a different teacher.

Sunday

Rising early, I showered, dressed, and made my way to the station. Having a bike is so much more convenient! I got to Tokyo and met up with Yuki.

Sara joined us and we got on the subway and made our way to meet with Yuki’s friends in Shinjuku. We walked from the subway station to the tea house and ventured inside.

The ceremony was beautiful. Everything is done for a purpose and it is all well thought out before the ceremony starts. I was not allowed to take pictures during the ceremony but I was allowed to take them after.

The man who officiated over the ceremony had began studying The Way of Tea when he was 10 years old and he is now “well over 70”.

According to legend about 5,000 years ago, a Chinese Emperor was in his garden. He became thirsty and asked for a glass of hot water. When his servant was bringing the hot water, a few tea-leaves fell into the cup and when the Emperor tasted it, he found he liked the taste. Tea was born.

At the end of the 12th century, Esai went to China to study Zen Buddhism. He brought tea back to Japan with him.

First tea was used for medicinal purposes, then samurai warriors found it relaxing so they performed very extravagant ceremonies with things like ivory tea scoops. Later the more reserved style of tea ceremony became popular.

In the 16th century, Rikyu formulated the process of today’s tea ceremony. He stressed the importance of simple tools and decoration.

The feeling of the tea ceremony is called “wabi” which means “quiet beauty”

“Matsukaze” is a word for the sound of wind through the pine trees. It represents the sound of many things involved with the ceremony: the sound of simmering water, tea whisks, walking on tatami mats (you don’t pick up your feet, but shuffle), the rustling of the kimono sleeves.

A full ceremony consists of a charcoal arranging, a meal, an offering of sweets, a short intermission, a serving of thick tea, a charcoal arranging, and finally a serving of thin tea. Everything involved with the ceremony is planned and determined before-hand. The arrangement of the charcoal, the number of pieces, and the size of each piece is all given thought while preparing the ceremony.

The Way of Tea which we observed was a truncated version that only included a thin tea tasting. Oak charcoal was used for our ceremony. It has a pleasant smell. The scroll on the wall was chosen as the theme of the ceremony. It said “the pine needles are always green”. This means there is always happiness, because other tree’s leaves are not always green, they die and fall off in winter; but, pine tree needles stay green all year long. This constant life has a happy connotation in Japan, so the theme is roughly, “Perpetual Happiness”. The flowers in the flower arrangement are from the garden outside of the tea house.

After the tea is poured, the guest of honor receives the bowl with the front of the bowl facing them. They put the bowl slightly to their left side and bow to their neighbor, saying, “Excuse me for drinking ahead of you”. They turn the bowl in their hands so the front faces away from them. They drink the tea in quick sips, slurping the last sip to show how delicious the tea was. The bowl is then examined for its beauty. These steps are repeated for each guest. There is always time given to examine each piece used during the ceremony. It is said that each moment if fleeting and can never be lived again. With this in mind, everything about the ceremony is observed for the first and the last time.

The tea scoop used during the ceremony is usually passed down through the generations. The one used for our ceremony was 30 years old. Each scoop has a name given to it by the craftsman. Ours was called “Frost on the Field”. It was chosen for our ceremony because November is called the frost month.

The tea is kept in a tea container in a mountain or conical shape. Keeping it in this shape is considered a skill, and the host scoops the tea from the side of the mound in order to preserve this shape. When it is time, the host passed the tea container to the guests and they marvel at the pattern on the container and the skill which the host possesses in order to keep the tea in that perfect mountain shape.

The sweets we were given were called “Tatsutamochi”, named after Prince Tatsuta.

The best tea in Japan comes from Kyoto and Shizuoka

Mist is needed for tea cultivation. Usually tea is planted near a big river or up high in the mountains. It likes a mild temperature and not a lot of sunlight.

Young tea is picked in the beginning of summer. The leaves are steamed and dried, then left in a cool dry place until autumn. The leaves are then ground in a mortar and pestle and stored to begin being used in November

It is said that learning how to perform the tea ceremony is learning about Japan. The tea ceremony involves many parts of Japanese culture: architecture (in the room’s contruction), flower arranging, pottery (the tea pot), iron work (the kettle), wood working (the scoop and the ladle), calligraphy (wall scroll), and the tea itself.

Tea ceremonies are held for any occasion one would like to observe: New Year’s, a birthday, doll’s festival, children’s day, moon viewing in autumn, and remembrance of someone who has passed away are just a few occasions for tea.

After the tea ceremony, we went to a different room and had a discussion about the ceremony with one of the teachers. It was very informative.

Leaving the tea house, we went to the subway and parted ways with Yuki’s friends. We went to Shibuya to shop and have dinner.

Not complicated at all... >_<

First we went to Bic Camera so I could buy a cell phone. There are way too many obstacles put in place in order to keep one from acquiring a phone. I got rather frustrated and almost left without getting anything. Luckily, we found a very helpful clerk and he set me right up with an iPhone 4. I had to pay for the phone up front, but I guess that’s just the way it had to be. After about an hour and a half, Sara had to go home. She had an appointment she couldn’t miss, so we said goodbye and she left. Another half an hour later and my contract discussions were complete; I was to return in half an hour to pick up my phone. Yuki and I went to a shabu-shabu restaurant to make a reservation,

They were giving these away on the street

then back to Bic to get my phone,

then back to the restaurant to have dinner.

Shabu-shabu is a pot of boiling liquid and raw meat that you boil yourself at your table. You generally pay for an amount of time and it’s all-you-can-eat. We had beef and pork with a lot of veggies. The liquid we chose to boil: soy milk. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.

After dinner I just barely made it back to the station in time to catch my last train. I arrived at home 2 hours later and tried to connect my new phone with my computer. They weren’t having it. My computer was incredibly stubborn and wouldn’t do anything I asked of it. I eventually had to shut it down by holding the power button for 10 seconds. This is not the best way to turn off your computer, but it’s the only thing I could do. I contemplated smashing it to bits, but that would have been counter-productive.

I restarted and got everything just about set-up when I began having trouble with my iTunes log-in. If it ain’t one thing, it’s a peanut nutter butter.

Foo.

Monday

Lisa from Apple tech-support helped me out in the morning and I got things rolling before I had to leave for work. Work blew by and before I knew it, I was home again, ready to start shoving music onto my new phone and changing everything beyond recognition.

To jailbreak or not…