Reunion reflections

I have much to still to process about the 50 year Midorikai reunion. I think overwhelmingly it was being in the company of those who have had the experience of studying tea in Japan. Everyone learns how to get into kimono in less than ideal conditions. Everyone starts as a beginner learning to walk, sit and stand again. Everyone struggles with the nuance of language, etiquette and expectations of being a Midorikai student. Everyone knows what it is like to not get enough sleep because your toban begins at 5 am.

Also everyone has participated in incredible, once in a lifetime events, and experienced things no tourist could ever dream of. We have all met people who we have only heard about and bonded with others who will remain in our lives and hearts for a lifetime and beyond. Meeting legends of Midorikai who we have heard many stories about, meeting old teachers, meeting new faces.

Revisiting places I used to go. I think everyone has their special place along the Kamogawa where they went to get away. The regular haunts where we would talk and eat and drink late into the night. The old shop where the couple who ran it would always give you a little extra “service.” The sweets shops where you favorite sweets are still sold.

Even as I exited the train in Kyoto eki the smell of Kyoto was somehow telling me I made it back home again. I’ll tell you a story about my last day in Midorikai. It was the first of April and the sakura were blooming, and I ran to my place by the river crying because I did not want to leave. I had finally gotten the hang of how to live in Japan, how to conduct myself so I wasn’t scolded all the time, and now I had to leave. My senior sempai came and found me there, crying. He said, “I know how you feel. I felt the same way when I had to leave Japan the first time. But you have now spent a year in Oiemoto’s house under his care. How can you not come home again?” And so I feel every time I visit Kyoto it is like coming home again.

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A look back

Something to think about the next time you are making tea for guests.

“When you are not confident at making tea, everyone is looking at you.  When you are good at making tea, everyone is looking at the tea.”

I thought that I would take a few moments to look back at some posts from the past still resonate with me. You are welcome to go back into the archives to look at others, too.

The difficulty of Chado study

Making a good bowl of koicha

How much is enough?

Your best tea

The resistance

From our own hands

The taste of tea

Everyday is a good day

You are also welcome to search the archive for other posts you might have missed.

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Time for a break

It was a busy summer at Issoan Tea.  We concluded an Introduction to Chado class with 4 new students, and a Ryakubon class with 4 returning students.  Regular students continued weekly classes, with advanced Shikaden classes on Friday, and once a month Okuden class.  There are also two teacher training classes meeting once a month.  I will write more about the teacher training class at another time. 

I also traveled to Kyoto for the Midorikai 50th reunion.  It always seems like the 2 weeks I spend in Japan are just not enough time to attend activities, meet old friends, aisatsu teachers, go shopping, eat well and meet new friends.   Perhaps next time I will schedule more time, but I always feel like I need to get back to the students.

Two weeks from returning from Japan, Issoan hosted a summer intensive. There was a welcome chakai, hosted by me, and a kimono and dogu sale, and welcome dinner, the first day.  The next two days were filled with kagetsu.  Hira kagetsu, koicha tsuki kagetsu, sumi tsuki kagetsu, ko tsuki kagetsu, and shaza.  We also had haigata practice and sumi demae lessons. 

Since most of the students had not been a guest at a chaji, we use the kaiseki dogu and had a lesson on a shogo no chaji kaiseki without food.   Guests practiced with all the trays, bowls, plates, and serving utensils, and when to open them, where to put them and how to pass and serve the various courses in a full kaiseki.  We even practiced chidori sakazuki, a confusing procedure where the host serves hassun, the food from the mountain and food from the sea, and serves each guest sake. The guest in turn serves the host sake in a zigzag kind of back and forth. 

The next day we went food shopping and had a kaiseki cooking lesson.  All the food we bought was prepped and cooked. Recipes and techniques were shared.  The day after that, while the hosts who were preparing for chaji, other students attended a calligraphy workshop and chashaku carving.  

The highlight was the Yobanashi chaji that evening.   It was amazing and lovely, and for me it was the culmination of 3 years of training with advanced students who finished the teacher training course.  I could not have been more moved and more proud.   We ended the intensive week with a farewell chakai (hosted by me) and farewell dinner.  

And last weekend, I drove 150 miles to Seattle to attend the summer chakai on Vashon Island, hosted by Christopher Ezzell, at the tea house of the winter moon. This year he planned an entire chaji and as it turned out that I was the shokyaku. Even after all this time, I still get nervous with such responsibility, but with Christopher’s help and the help of the other guests, everybody had a great time. One thing about spending an extended time in the small space of the tea room, the guests really get to know one another.  Being together and experiencing the marvels as each aspect of the chaji is revealed, from the first look at the scroll, to the taste of the shared koicha to the final goodbye, it bonds the group together in a profound way. 

Another aspect of spending the 4 hours of time in the tea room I had not considered was the changing light.  Pleasantly illuminated space, gave way to slanted shadows and deepening dusk as we made our farewells.

While I feel so incredibly lucky to be living the tea life, I am feeling a little burned out from these activities and am recharging by taking the month of September off.  We are now at the Oregon coast watching the waves, reading and painting.

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Summer intensive tea study at Issoan

We have just concluded the second summer intensive at Issoan. Between the kimono and dogu sale, to kagetsu, to kimono dressing to kaiseki cooking to calligraphy and chashaku carving we did a lot of activities. The highlight of the week concluded with a yobanashi chaji given by two students who have completed the 3-year teacher training class.

I hope everyone learned something.  Thank you for taking photos during the week.  We are already planning next year’s intensive

I love kagetsu and we did many rounds including koicha tsuki kagetsu, sumi tsuki kagetsu, ko tsuki kagetsu, and shaza.

It is not often we get to do haigata and sumi demae, but everyone had a chance to do both.

Highlights of the Yobanashi chaji

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Things Chado has taught me, part 3

This post previously appeared on this blog as 10 things Midorikai has taught me I have updated and expanded  for the purposes of this list.  The lessons from my experience still ring true today, more than ever. What about you? What are the things Chado has taught you?

Here is the list:

  1. Be open to the experience that life presents you.  We may have our expectations of how our life will unfold. But say yes more often than no.  Opportunities may not look like what you have expected or wished for.
  2. Be thankful everyday for the life you have.  Electricity at the turn of a switch, shelter, freedom from hunger, these things are easy to take for granted.  Gratitude, even for your troubles because they help you grow.
  3. Be kind to other people.  It is a mindset and it doesn’t take anything away from you to encourage, listen closely, say something nice or acknowledge someone.  Small things can have big impacts on other people.
  4. Do your best, all the time.  Cynicism doesn’t serve you.  You cannot live life at half-speed. There simply is  not enough time.
  5. Leave something for people who follow you.  If you develop knowledge or expertise, pass it on. It does no good if it dies with you.  Mentor others, take on apprentices, teach.
  6. The people you don’t get along with are your teachers.  At the minimum, it is good training for you to learn how to handle people and situations you don’t like.  At the other end, you might make them your allies.
  7. Excuses are a waste of time.  They let you off the hook so you don’t have to change or do anything different.  It is a way of avoiding accountability and responsibility.
  8. Be generous.  Giving has its own reward.  You will be amazed at how much comes back to you.
  9. Be careful about acquiring things.  Things won’t fulfill you.  The more you own the less space you have.  What you buy and accumulate says a lot about you.
  10. Learn to let go.  We are taught to hold on. Let go of grudges, of mistakes, of behaviors that don’t serve you or of people who are no longer good for you.

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