Tea Ceremony Process

^.^ hello! Jess here. This summer I'm delving into the Tea Ceremony and the more research I do the bigger a headache I get.

Soo I'm going to start posting my most basic findings here! then gradually get it more complicated which, should be how we all learn it in club.

If you're interested in learning the tea ceremony with me, try it at home, do your own research too, and lets practice together when we get back to school!


The first thing you guys should know is that my main reference book came in a "Japanese tea ceremony" set I got or xmas. don't worry though, it seems really legit! they teach you the Japanese words and everything.

Needless to say though, I'll be doing outside research as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Tea-Ceremony-Gift-Set/dp/1862045909 This is my starter kit. ask your parents for one. it comes with a bowl, a whisk, a book, and tea packets for just about $10!

Alright, that said, here we go:

Essential Knowledge

The Tea Ceremony Sado or "The Way of Tea" can take years, even a lifetime to perfect.

It is not a performance, though it can be very enjoyable to watch, especially since some philosophies focus on the aesthetically pleasing and symmetrical.

Originally Sado was created as a form of mediation, and the most popular style still reflects this relaxing, calming, mindset.

This spiritual aspect focuses on freeing the mind from actions that do not require thought. So your goal is kinda complicated. You are to achieve both inner peace, and total concentration. (yickes!)

Part of this ideal revolves around "Ichigo ichie" or "The first and last meeting." Eventually, like every other aspect of Sado, this is something you can do beyond the tea room. (everything..is kungfu)

Ichigo ichie means that you are to treat every meeting as both the first and the last, and not just with people but also objects. Again, you should both treasure the utensils of Sado and disregard them to see both detail and the entire picture.

Utensiles

First you need some delicious tea! Preferably powdered Matcha, not tea bag so you can whisk it.

http://www.inpursuitoftea.com/Matcha_s/126.htm more on Matcha here

Second most important only to the tea is the bowl. "Chawan" that has a distinguishable front and back (this will be important later)

Next you'll need a kettle with hot water. (there are so many varieties of this that I won't give you the Japanese just yet)

From here on out, things are going to get more and more complicated. The follow items are listed by (personal opinion) relevance

Whisk (chasen) small metal whisks from your kitchen will do for now, but try and get a wooden
Tea scoop (Chahaku) long, thin, made from bamboo or ivory (but a spoon works too)
A Tray for carrying all these items.
Linen Cloth (Chakin) for cleaning the bowl
Silk Cloth (Fukusa) for cleaning tea holder and tea scoop
Waste Water Bowl (Kensui) where you put the water you wash the Chawan with
Tea Caddy (Natsume) is used for searching Usucha, (Cha-ire) for searching Koicha: these are two different types of matcha
Ladel: (Hishaku) personally, I've got a tea pot that has a spout.

For pictures and much more detail go to the site below

http://japanese-tea-ceremony.net/utensils.html

The Very Basics

Remember, before you begin try and see this ritual as a way of meditation and to relax. I know you'll be focused on getting all the details just right, but enjoy yourself too.

Set the stage: Pretend that you have guests to serve who will drink your tea. Prepare everything in a separate room and bring it out on the tray. Hot water should be the first thing in the room.

Bring the tray carrying bowl (chawan), covered with the linen (chakin) with the whisk (chasen) and scoop (chahaku) on top of the linen. Place these to the left of your kettle.

[you'll notice these words start with "cha" like mat-cha. cha meaning tea]

When you set things down and continue Sado remember that it's important not to cross your arm over any of the utensils. (if you're wearing a yukata you'll figure out why soon enough)




http://www.flickr.com/photos/65214278@N00/4844879961/ See how it's set up here?

left to right:
Waste bowl (Kensui), hot pad for kettle, tray with bowl, wisk, tea caddy, and tea spoon. The wooden plank on the far right I'm guessing is for sweets.

This would be what you see as the tea preparer.

Now that you've got it all set up, it's time to show your guests that everything is clean. by cleaning it.

If you're wearing a yukata or kimono you would be keeping the silk cloth (Fukusa) [a regular cloth will do for now, especially if you're not using lacquer] in the belt of your cloths. If you're not, lets say we'll keep it on the left side of the tray at 9:00.

Pick up the fukusa, fold it once, and wipe down your tea caddy (natsume). Set the natsume down, fold the fukusa again, pick up your tea spoon (chashaku), tilt it downward, wipe downward three times.

Place chashaku by the natsume, remove the whisk and linen from the bowl. place some tea-less hot water in the bowl.

Stir the water with the whisk (to clean the whisk), lift the whisk out of the water and put it back in two times.

drain this water into the waste water bowl.

Hold the tea bowl over your left knee, wipe down thoroughly with the linen cloth. make sure it's very dry!

Now you're ready to make your tea. I'm going to skip over these instructions for now, personally, I'm cheating and using tea bags, because I want to get the opening and closing down pat!

Once the tea is ready, turn the front of the bowl towards your guest. If you've got a bowl that doesn't have a clear front or back, put a little sticker on it to designate a front.

Your guest has now enjoyed the tea. if they don't want any more, you can begin to clean up. You're basically going to do everything you did in the beginning, in reverse.

Pick up the used bowl with your right hand, place it briefly in your left palm, set it on the tray with your right hand.

Add hot water to cleanse, discard.

Add water again, rinse the whisk. Pause whisk against the rim of the bowl, then raise once, circle the bowl, and set aside. Discard water.

Place the linen and whisk in the bowl.

Fold the silk cloth, wipe the scoop, place it on the bowl where it started (see picture)

Hold the silk over the waste bowl, tap lightly to remove any tea dust, set it at 9:00 on the tray.

Place your tea caddy (Natsume) at 12:00.

Replace the silk to your belt.

The waste water is the first thing you carry out. Then you come back for the tray. Then return once more to bow a goodbye to your guests.

Who boy!! that's going to be difficult but I think we can do it.

Before you start on your own watch this video:

just get through the opening. but it gives you a good idea of where to put everything and what this all means in real life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt7NBIVeMY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FfUbnaXecg this is also very good, though the camera quality is not as good.

Neither of these women are using a tray, and because there are many variations on how to do these complicated ceremonies there will probably be some differences. Either way, great videos to watch.

*stickied

this is a good thread to read up on and discuss tea ceremony ;')

>w< omgosh thank's for the sticky!!

The Whisk

Ok so the Whisk has been giving me some trouble. There's some very specific stuff going on here!

Lets start with how to grip this tricky utensil.

With just your right hand, put your thumb and pointer finger together, other fingers out to make the "OK" sign. Now try it with the whisk, except obviously your hand is facing down towards the bowl.

Pinch the handle between your thumb and index finger, your other fingers out to brace your hand's movements.

http://cerebralsneeze.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/img_1664-blog.jpg it's a bit blurry but you get the idea.

Now we'll take it from the start of the ceremony. You've just brought in the tray, you've cleaned your tea caddy and scoop.

Remove the whisk from the bowl w/ your right hand (you always hand the whisk with your right hand) and place to the Right of the Tea container (1:00 on the tray) on its flat top.

Remove the linen cloth, spoon hot water

Pinch the whisk in the "OK" position, place in bowl at 3:00 position. let go. re-grip the whisk so that your thumb is on top and your index finger is on the bottom of the handle. Every time you rinse the whisk in the water you'll re-grip.

Pay close attention to this part. You're going take the whisk out of the bowl twice so it goes like this:

Whisk in center of bowl, swirl once counter clockwise, let go of whisk at 3:00

re-grip. Lift out of the water, inspect, replace.

Do this two or three times. on the last time, do half counter-clockwise, half clockwise. bring it back to the middle and stir it very quickly along the 6 and 12 line (right down the vertical middle) to the count of 3 Mississippi.

now drag you whisk along the 6 o clock side of the bowl to drain extra water, flip it over, place it again to the right of the tea caddy on it's flat top.

(got all that? it's wordy, and it's specific but we'll get there eventually. practice and patience are are two big P's)



Cleaning the whisk at the end of the ceremony is less formal, but it's more or less the same as the beginning.

Whisk in center of bowl, swirl counter clockwise quickly to count of 3 or 5 Mississippi, let go of whisk at 3:00

re-grip. Lift out of the water, inspect, replace.

Do this once, then half counter-clockwise, half clockwise.

now drag you whisk along the 6 o clock side of the bowl to drain extra water, flip it over, place it again to the right of the tea caddy on it's flat top.


Drain the water from your bowl, don't dry it, place the linen inside

This is the last time you touch the whisk, always grab it with the "OK" position, place it back inside the bowl.

the end!

Some of you may catch onto this a little faster than me, but I really need to get a good look at what was going on with the whisk b/c it was heck out of me. I'm using https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt7NBIVeMY for reference on this, but it's probable that other styles do the whisk differently. Though I think it's safe to say that we've got a nice place to start.

Thanks for reading! I hope you're all doing well.