drawer full of tea
“Stress Relief”, “Tension Tamer”
—after my Earl Grey
Category: tea
back at the tea space
meeting old friends and new friends
this moment is all
-on attending “Hatsugama”*
Hatsugama / 初釜 / boiling of the first kettle tea ceremony
This meeting is seen as something very special. Hatsugama is the only time when the tea teacher him or herself prepares tea for all her students. In most cases this tea ceremony is a complete Chaji meeting with Kaiseki meal, Nakadachi breaks, and the whole ritual done the way it was learned during classes. It is impossible to teach the whole Chaji at once, therefor it is always broken up into practicing how to prepare Usucha, Koicha, and arranging the charcoal in Sumidemae. Only this time will the whole ritual be performed by the tea teacher with some help of his or her students. It is an opportunity to meet all the other students whom might be studying on different days and for the teacher to point out some of the details about the flow of a full Chaji meeting. Typical for this meeting is the festive mood, exquisite cuisine, and the curved braided willow branches hung in the alcove.
Source: http://japanese-tea-ceremony.net/types_ceremony.html
that card I just sent
the one I struggled to write
will arrive too late
-in memory of June Moriyasu
she’s in hospice care
in the card what can I say
but ‘thinking of you’?
-on hearing of a tea teacher’s decline
There is only this moment
I studied Japanese tea ceremony for awhile* and one of its key concepts** is Ichi-go, ichi-e: 一期一会 “one time, one meeting”. It seems suitably vague and mysterious, but it permeates every aspect of the ceremony.
If you go to a Japanese tea ceremony, you will sit on straw tatami mats while the host makes you a bowl of green tea. You will eat a sweet confection while watching the host make the tea, and then you’ll drink the tea when offered the bowl. Then you will sit back and watch as the host finishes the ceremony by putting the tea components away, before then leaving.
Eat a little, drink a little, get some entertainment in the meantime. It seems simple, and normal, enough.
And yet.
What you may not have realized was the amount of thought and preparation the host did to make the experience special for you:
- The flowers were seasonal and arranged to reflect that.
- The calligraphy on the scroll hanging in the alcove on your way in contained a phrase of intention (theme) for the ceremony.
- The tea was chosen specifically for this ceremony.
- The tea bowl was chosen because it reflected the season and perhaps the calligraphy, or has special meaning for this event.
- The bamboo tea scoop was chosen for its poetic name that complemented the theme of this ceremony.
- The tea caddy was chosen for its artistry and shape which resonated with the theme and season.
- The sweets were made to suit the season and the nature of the ceremony.
- The clothing the host wears reflects the season.
And that was for a very simple tea ceremony***. For the more elaborate ones, there would be two very different types of tea, as well as a complete meal, taking several hours.
All of this effort for a single event.
One time, one meeting.
This moment will never happen again. We may meet again, and we may have tea again, but it won’t be exactly like this. The weather will be different, the season different, the location different, the states of our hearts and minds different.
So we appreciate the people we are with in this very moment, because we know that it will never occur in the same way again.
Or ever.****
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*And dearly loved it. I would love to start up again, when I can catch my breath.
**Dare I say “the foundational concept“?
***And one that leaves out the entrance and exit aspects of the ceremony, and probably a fair bit more that I’m not recalling at the moment.
****In remembrance of an acquaintance who suddenly passed away, and of the loved ones who are no longer with us. Perhaps this is my early Obon.
Tea image: Antonio