Rikyu says: Lay the charcoal so it boils the water.
When I first went to Japan to study the way of tea, I didn’t know how to build a charcoal fire. My sensei really did not teach us how to do it. We would have a charcoal fire for events such as Robiraki or Hatsugama, …
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We had our first week of school and I am quite tired. We have had some changes to the program with Midorikai being included more inside the Gakuen. For example, we now attend the morning chorei / role call. This is a great time to practice sitting seiza, which of course means that you are …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/sumi-sumi-midorikai-interlude/
One of Rikyu’s rules is to lay the charcoal so that it boils the water. I will not be talking about the charcoal, today, but the boiling water.
There are no clocks in the tea room, the kama is one of your timing devices. Depending on how you lay the charcoal — farther apart, the …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/sound-boiling-water/
On November 9, 2014 Issoan Tea School celebrated the opening of the winter hearth with Robiraki. There were 3 seki of 4 people each. A real charcoal fire was laid to heat the water. Because charcoal is so hard to import from Japan, and is so very expensive, we seldom get to see the fire …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/robiraki-2014/
The day after Christmas, December 26th we had our first Winter intensive at Issoan Tea School. For my students it was their first intensive. We started at 3 pm and ended at 9:30 pm. In between we sat zazen, practiced warigeiko, reviewed movement in the tearoom, did five teamae, laid the charcoal shozumi and rebuilt …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/winter-intensive/
