茶道 – Japanese Tea Ceremony
This last Sunday I once again had an opportunity to partake in a Japanese Tea Ceremony. The first time was about seven years ago when I attended Japanese language classes at the Czech-Japanese Association in Prague. That was my first taster session as well as a taste of Matcha tea.
In my final year in high school, about 5 years ago, my classmate asked me whether I want to join her for a Japanese Tea Ceremony presentation. This time is was more of a stage “performance” by a professional, accompanied by different explanations. We were then given a taster of some matcha tea and very colourful Wagashi.
This year, the Czech-Japanese Association, together with the tea school Urasenke sent me an e-mail, informing me of a special tea ceremony taking place on the 15th of January to welcome the new lunar year of the Dragon. Several sessions took place over the course of the day. About 10 people attended.
Firstly we were invited to enjoy a small cup of warm tea. Sitting in a circle we were each individually served a small cup of what I assume was yuzu tea. As we were presented our cup we bowed. The most interesting about he cup was the smiling face at the bottom of it. This was then followed by moving to the main tea room, were we were asked (if our knees would allow) to kneel, bow and observe the room before moving into in by basically shuffling in with our hands. The whole process was very relaxing accompanied by an explanation of the symbolism of the script on the wall, the willow and other features of the set up of the tea ceremony. We were served mochi filled with white bean paste and gobo (edible burdock) – or at least I think it was if I’m correct. This was followed by matcha tea, which somebody said is a bit like a cappuccino (since it is a bit frothy, so somebody referred to this similarity).
I also spend some time admiring the kimonos that the women wore. I particularly admired the green kimono with leave images and golden obi (the belt holding the kimono together).
The whole experience was really relaxing and I left feeling really calm and content. In this beautiful mindset I was then able to admire the blue skies above and just generally feel happy.
Does anybody have any experience with the Japanese Tea Ceremony or knowledge? Feel free to share.
OWL
