This post was recovered from an old blog that I had while studying abroad in Japan. I’ve only updated misspellings or dead links, but left any cringe worthy things or immature thoughts. I’ve decided to leave them as a snapshot of who I was and to see how far I’ve come. Any photos have been freshly edited and so are not the same as what was originally posted. Over the years I had several blogs, most lost to time, and I wanted to recover some lost memories and reflect on my life.

uring my Japanese class last Monday we learned about tea ceremony (Sadou). We weren’t simply taught on the chalkboard though, we actually participated in mock tea ceremony taught by a famous teacher. First we started by cleaning all the tatami mat’s in the room we were to use. To clean the mats we used dry cloth rags and rubbed the tatami going with the grain. Then the teacher taught us how to properly, sit, greet, walk, and enter the room. Finally before getting the ceremony underway the teacher asked for a volunteer to be the honored guest. Everyone was reluctant, not sure what the responsibilities entailed. After a couple awkward seconds of silence I volunteered and we began.

We all entered the room as we were told. First sliding in through the door, then bowing to the host. Moving forward to look at the hanging scroll, flowers, and incense holders. Then taking our places and sitting around the circle. I was the honored guest so I sat closest to where the Tea was being made and was at the “beginning” of the circle. Next to me sat another guest and finally one more person next them. We three were the main guest and so were served the tea and sweets first. The other students brought us the tea and sweets and watched we ate and drank. A few of my classmates looked confused, wondering whether they would get some too. Others looked intently at the sweets, mouths slightly open, and on the verge of drooling. After the three honored guest had eaten and drank their tea the teacher brought out all the tea making supplies. Now anyone who wanted to make tea could try themselves and most did. The teachers assistant brought out more sweets for everyone and we just sat around and talked for the remainder.

Our regular Japanese teacher had given us the impression that the Tea Ceremony teacher was going to be very strict, but she ended up not being bad. She didn’t make us sit the proper way of sitting because none of us foreigners could handle it for that long. She ended up being a very nice lady and I think she enjoyed teaching us all.

Although the experiance probably was nothing close to AUTHENTIC Japanese Tea Ceremony it was still fun and very informative. I definitely saw how the ceremony can be very strict and have very small and seemingly insignificant rules. It’s all a bit tedious and overly structured for my liking. I enjoyed the experiance as a one time thing, but could never study something like that. I need room to be free!