Friday, May 4, 2007

What to do at a Chanoyu (Tea Ceremony)



1. Wait and admire the garden until the person who is hosting the ceramony tells you to come in.
2. When the host tells you to, come in to the room and sit down.
3. The host will serve you some dry sweet cakes. Eat them.
4. When you're done with your sweets, the host might serve you another sweet. If she does, eat that sweet too.
5. Watch the host clean all the materials for making tea, includining the bamboo wisk (chasen), the tea scoop (chasaku) and the tea bowl (chawan). All this cleaning will take a litte while.
6. Watch the tea-maker (the host) make the tea. You will be drinking macha, a stronger version of green tea made from powder. It is frothier that regular green tea.
7. When the tea-maker serves you your tea, before you take a sip, hold the tea-bowl in your palm.
8. Turn the cup around clockwise so that the picture on the cup faces the host. This shows respect for the host.
9. Now, finally, you get to drink your tea.
10. When you are done with your tea, the tea-maker will clear your cup and clean it. She will also clean the materials for making the tea again.
11. The tea ceremony is over.

1 comment:

Gaki said...

Do you get to sit down at one of those low tables where you have to turn yourself into a pretzel?
Do all formal tea ceremonies use green tea only ? for that matter, do all japanese drink mainly green tea ?
Finally, you say that all the paraphernalia used for the ceremony gets cleaned at the beginning, then, again at the end. That makes for VERY clean tea!!
Love, Gaki and Big Al (Big Al is always impressed with VERY clean!)
Love, Gali