Japanese Tea Ceremony - Early April

I was very privileged to be the guest of Rumiko, a new  acquaintance of ours through Ed's co-worker Danny, for a Japanese Tea Ceremony.  I truly felt like I was in a movie lost in a totally enchanted day. We went to a place called Happo-en.  It host wedding, it has restaurants, it maybe a hotel, as well.  It has a beautiful garden and couples come to take their wedding pictures.  There is a large pond and on one side of the pond is a small 150 year old building where the private tea ceremonies are held.

Couple in their traditional Japanese wedding clothes.  There were at least fifteen couples there that day having their pictures taken.   Some were in western type gowns.  Rumiko said that the bride usual changes her outfit three times during the ceremony.

 Rumiko and Myra on our way through the garden to the Tea Ceremony. It was a windy day.

The large carp in the water and the walk way to the Tea House.

A small building for resting and viewing the pond and the garden.

A view of the building from across the pond.

The Tea House.  Before entering the tea house, we had to squat at a small bamboo spout with fresh water falling on stones to wash our hands.  We had to wash them the same way you wash your hands before entering a temple.  You take the ladle in your right hand and rinse your left hand and then you rinse your right hand then you put a small amount of water in your left hand and rinse your mouth.  You then hold the cup of the ladle up to rinse the handle and then place it on it's stand.

The small try in front of me contains a small sweet in the shape of a cherry blossom and a small cake.  The tea contains no sugar so the sweets are served to balance the bitterness of the tea.

The bowl you see in the picture was my cup of tea. You take the bowl with your right hand and put it on your left palm and hold it on the side with your right hand.  You raise it a little to show your appreciation.  You can see a picture on your bowl which is regarded as the most important part.  It is important not to drink from this part.  You turn the bowl 90 degrees clockwise from the picture. You take only one sip at first.  You comment on how good you think the tea is.  Rumiko said that it was okay to use the word, "okay" when commenting on the tea because in Japanese okay has many different meaning.  Then, you drink the rest of your tea. I was served my tea first because I was the important guest of the day.  You then wipe the part of the bowl you touched with your lips with two fingers from left to right.  You then wipe your fingers with the paper napkin.  If you do not eat all of your cake you place it in the napkin and put in in your purse.  It is polite to eat all of the cake.  I saved a piece of the cake so Ed could have a taste.  You then turn the bowl 90 degrees counter clockwise.  At this point you admire the bowl by turning it and looking at it from different angles.  You look at the picture on the side, and notice the shape and color of the bowl and the trade mark on the bowl.  Next, you turn the bowl 180 degrees clockwise. You then put the bowl back on the table in front of you with the picture facing you to show that you are finished with the tea.

After we finished our first bowl of tea we were served a second bowl of tea.  The small dishes in front of us contained the sweets we ate before drinking the tea. I saved a part of the sweet for Ed to taste.  We were also instructed to put the bowl on the mat and then bend forward and look at the bowl from both sides and then turn it upside down to look at the workmen ship and to look for the trade mark before putting the bowl in front of us with the picture facing us to show that we were finished with the tea.

The view of the garden  from the tea house.

After the Tea Ceremony we went to lunch.  We sat at a window seat. This was our view of the garden.

We started lunch at 1:30 p.m. and lunch lasted till 4:00 p.m.  We had a special set menu just for Sakura, Cherry Blossom.  We had at least six different dishes. I did not think of taking pictures till the last two courses.

Another view of the garden. It was truly a magical day.