Making Tea While the Sun Shines

This has been on my list since we got here: a class on Japanese tea ceremony.

You enter through the little Zen garden, stopping to rinse your hands and mouth along the way.

 

Then you enter the tea room . . . through the tiny door . . . to show that everyone is on the same footing at the tea house.

 
We get a few instructions in the fine art of tea and the proper way to consume it.  Did you know that the tea cup has a face?  When you pass the cup to the next person you pass it so they are facing each other, but before you drink from the cup you want to turn the face away.

There are also rules for the accompanying sweets.

Additionally, we were given lessons in bowing, sitting, standing, walking and opening/closing doors. 

But the real beauty of the ceremony is just in watching the preparation of the tea.

Our sensei was actually a Christian woman who has been instructing in the art of tea for 40 years.  Where the lessons would normally include Buddhist teacings, she has substituted Bible verses!

 

At the end of the tea ceremony, you are supposed to inspect your cup—each person’s is unique.  Mine had an inscription on the bottom reading “Peace be with you”.

 

Back out through the garden and back to the real world!