News Letter od Ichiroya

aneko

Jakis czas temu otrzymalam od internetowego sklepu z uzywanymi kimonami Ichiroya Newsletter na temat Christmas Chakai organizowanego przez midorikai - moze kogos z Was zainteresuje ^__^:

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.274.

Today I(Yuka) is writing about the day when Ichiro and I attended a tea ceremony three days ago.
Our good friend Carmen san who is now studying sado(the way of tea) at Urasenke school in Kyoto invited us to their annual Christmas ochakai ` tea ceremony` hosted by the students from all over the world studying there.
The ceremony was held at one of the room at Urasenke school. Urasenke is one of the main and influential school.
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We are Japanese but you have to understand we do not do tea ceremony and most of Japanese are the same, except the people who learn a way of tea, or who
are from good family, and have done traditional culture lessons. It used to be said women had to be able to do ocha(way of tea), ohana(flower arrangement) and osaihou(sewing) to be ready to get married. I remember going to an ochakai with my mother one or two times but I remembered nothing.
Without Carmen san, we probably had no chance to be in Urasenke ochakai, tea ceremony. There are many less formal tea ceremony in many places but at a room in THAT Urasenke school, it has much more meaning. We were so thrilled-we had patchy information but Carmen san actually let us know the procedure
by e-mails gave us organized information:-) (Which is real Japanese? us or Carmen san?)
We were VERY nervous actually (we had practiced the action the day before!)and reviewed the phrase on the way!
It is me going to the tea ceremony(you can see a security man behind)
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However, our worries were not necessary. We were welcomed by warm smiles of the students at the entrance and at the waiting room, we could smell the sweet smell. The smell came from Tokonoma, Japanese traditional alcove. It was handmade ginger bread houses made by a student from Finland!
(Can you see Moomin wearing a red cap?)

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There were more interesting display such as the intricate cutwork decoration from Poland hanging on the wall, the instruments nicely placed, advent calendar with tobacco tray - they were so charming in the traditional old tatami waiting room and made us smile.
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We were told the tea room was ready, and went into the room(saying `dozo osakini` means `after you` each other)until someone finally decided to go first.
There were about 15 guests, and the hosts, the students' hospitality was just so great. We were served their handmade sweets with Christmas design on them-and there were full of joyful atmosphere around by then. Then each of us was served green tea, and had the tea according to the manner(rotate the bowls, saying the phrase, bowing before each actions and so on) but when we noticed the tea bowls were all handmade by the students, the room was filled with
smiles and surprise. In tea ceremony, we are supposed to appreciate tea bowls but it can be a routine, but we really appreciated each teabowl as well as the handmade sweets. The air was so amiable and relaxed, we talked each other and listened to the student who told us about the vase, flowers kakejiku and other tea items with ohhing and ahhing.
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We could not take all the photos but this is one of the thing which amazed us- robuchi (frame of hearth) using traditional Japanese design of Genjiko but with lovely Christmas colors!
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Among the guests, there was an old man who seemed to be a teacher of Urasenke. He was saying otemae(tea serving manners) was graceful and said `tanoshii!`
it means enjoyable. Everyone was nodding.

For the guests, tea ceremony is only a short time thing but for the hosts, the tea ceremony starts from long ago-making invitation, cleaning all the place,
taking care of tea items, preparing sweets and all the things for the guests. But more than that they were supposed to make their guests comfortable and happy, and they did excellent job presenting things from their own country. With a lot of nice surprise here and there, the tea ceremony went with series of happy moments. At first it was so quiet and there was only the sound of birds chirping but gradually, the sound of laughter and talks of guests were heard. It is easy to say `please enjoy` but I think it is quite difficult actually. With the thoughtful preparation, and their heartful welcome, I think each guest left the tea room with happiness.
We like to show more photos but we forgot to ask the permission so if it becomes all right, we like to put all the photos by slide show in our blog.

aiko

Tez taki dostalam! Milo bylo poczytac jak Japonczycy odkrywaja swiat herbaty i jaka im to sprawia radosc i satysfakcje, a dodatkowym smaczkiem jest to, ze dzieje sie dzieki znajomosci z Carmen - Europejka, Amerykanka?

Yume

...i nasza wycinanka Very Happy

Mairead

Hihi, "skromny" ten zakres umiejętności przyszłej żony- czarka herbatki, kwiatki w wazonie i szycie..... no właśnie, szycie czego?