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- Heart to heart connection — 8 comments
- April update, a Midorikai interlude — 6 comments
- Making a good bowl of koicha — 6 comments
- Hatsuchakai Issoan 2017 — 4 comments
- Kokoro, the heart of tea — 4 comments
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Willows and flowers
I went walking in the suburban wilderness the other day after being inside for the last couple of weeks. It is exuberant spring everywhere. Daffodils are rampant. There are sprouts of grasses and flowers, new growth on bushes and leaves on trees.
And the willow trees are such a lovely shade of green. I stopped …
Permanent link to this article: http://issoantea.com/willows-and-flowers/
Issoan Tea School on hiatus until further notice.
We live in a time of Corona Virus. To protect everyone’s health, Issoan Tea School will be on hiatus until further notice.
Please be good to each other, take care of your health and the health of everyone around you. Take time to practice self-care. Go for walks. Read. Clean out your closets. Write letters. …
Permanent link to this article: http://issoantea.com/issoan-tea-school-on-hiatus-until-further-notice/
How to haiken
There is a time in temae, the tea procedure, where the first guest asks the host to haiken the utensils. Haiken means to look closely with appreciation. The etiquette for haiken is to first say “osaki ni” to the next guest before placing the utensil in front of you. First, look at the overall shape …
Permanent link to this article: http://issoantea.com/how-to-haiken/
New Year’s Poetry at Issoan
Four poets gathered at Issoan on New Year’s Day 2020. It was a day filled with poetry, food, tea, sweets and incense. Each poet in turn composed a stanza of linked verse to complete a poem of 24 links.
The format of the poem was a list of 24 topics dedicated to the four seasons. …
Permanent link to this article: http://issoantea.com/new-years-poetry-at-issoan/
The turn of the year
Here we are at the winter solstice of 2019. Right now the Pacific Northwest is experiencing a category 3 Or 4 Atmospheric River described as a long, narrow plume of tropical moisture carrying intense rainfall across the atmosphere like a river in the sky. “These columns of …
Permanent link to this article: http://issoantea.com/the-turn-of-the-year/