Category: blog post

Yoshitsugu Nagano Sensei comes to Portland

The Portland Japanese Garden invited Yoshitsugu Nagano sensei of Ueda Soko school from New York City to come and present tea at the Cultural Corner floating tatami space. It is always interesting to watch other school’s temae to compare the different styles of making tea. And I think that is what it is, stylistic differences. …

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Tea presentations as training

As part of tea training, I encourage all my students to take part in tea presentations.  Last week we had several opportunities at the Portland Japanese Garden to do so.   There are weekly presentations at the Cultural Corner platform, an elevated tatami mat that looks like a floating platform.  It is a little challenging as …

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Weekend intensive training

Two weeks ago, I returned from my vacation in the Canadian Rockies to go right into an intensive training for Chanoyu.  Every year, Christy Bartlett sensei comes to Portland for a weekend of intensive training. We are very lucky to have this opportunity to train intensively, as questions and practice in front of a …

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Things Chado has taught me, part 4

 

There are so many things I have learned from Chado that it is difficult to articulate them.  This post is the 4th of a series of things that Chado has taught me.  These are not necessarily what everyone learns from Chado, but I find my life is so much richer and meaningful because of …

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Talent, Passion, and Practice

People tell me that I have a talent for Chado.  But nobody is born being good at tea.  When people are good at something, we assume that they must have a talent for it. This is not necessarily the case.  We love to attribute success to talent.  When we look at successful or professional athletes, …

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