All the preparations for Hatsugama paid off and the celebration for the New Year was a great success. 8 guests in two seki attended. The display in the tokonoma included kagami mochi and blue ceramic goishi kogo.
The scroll read “Haku un onozuakara kyorai zu” White clouds come and go of …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/hatsugama-first-kettle-2014/
We are lucky this time of year to be able to participate in Hatsugama, the first kettle of the year. It is one of the biggest events of the year, and I have been preparing for this since early November. I have developed over the years a countdown checklist that starts about 2 months out …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/hatsugama-preparations/
Every year, the Emperor of Japan chooses a theme, or Chokudai for the year. Many artists create works of art, tea utensils commemorating the theme for the year. For 2014, the theme is shizuka. It will be interesting to see what artists come up with for shizuka. My dictionary defines the word as calm, quiet, …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/chokudai-2014-shizuka/
In these dark days, it is always good to have a few books to curl up with to take us away. Here are two more books that I have added to my bookshelf:
Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, Nature, Literature and the Arts, by Haruo Shirane. ISBN: 978-0-231-15281-5 I heard a lecture …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/more-reading/
I am not a student of Zen, but I am a student of tea, so anything in English that helps me understand the relationship of Zen to tea captures my interest. One of the overt examples of Zen in the tea room is the scroll displayed in the tokonoma. It is often a Zen saying. …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/one-taste-of-truth/
