New Class: Beginning Chado

As an instructor of Chado, I am continually thinking of ways to pass on what I have learned and instill in my students the enthusiasm and joy that I feel in the way of tea.   Being connected to the rich history of chado and honoring all of the efforts my own teachers have invested in me, make me glad that I have found a passion in life that I can share with others.

I have developed a new class for students who have taken the Introduction class and would like to continue.

Beginning Chado class.  It will begin Friday, June 7 from 7-9 pm, and run for 10 weeks.  In this class students will learn a complete tea ceremony procedure called ryakubon, or tray style.  It is a complete tea ceremony with all the essential elements, but you can do it without a lot of equipment or tea room.  I have shared tea this way for public presentations, and also while hiking, in the living room, on the train, in my hotel room while traveling and under the cherry blossoms.  Students will also deepen their understanding of the guest role, learn to make different types of sweets, and learn basic preparation and set up of the tea room.  We will begin to explore seasonal aspects of the tea ceremony, and at the end, put on a tea gathering for friends and family.  Come join us for this class.

You need not have taken the Introduction to Chanoyu class, but it is recommended.  For those interested, please reserve your place by using the Paypal button to the left, or contact Margie 503-645-7058, margie@issoantea.com.

Presentation at the Portland Japanese Garden

Issoan Tea School will be presenting Chado, the Way of  Tea at the Portland Japanese Garden this Saturday, July 21st at 1 and 2 pm.

Please join us for a presentation of the Tea Ceremony at Kashintei, the "Flower heart arbor" tea house at the Portland Japanese Garden.  The presentat6ion is free with admission to the garden.

Chado 茶道, the Way of Tea, is the practice of preparing, serving, and drinking Tea. Since the 15th century, it has been a study in preparing a bowl of powdered green tea (matcha 抹茶) as well as incorporating many of the arts of Japan. This elegant yet simple practice reflects the philosophy of the four principles of Tea:

Harmony: Wa 和
Respect: Kei 敬
Purity: Sei 清
Tranquility: Jaku 寂

Where: Portland Japanese Garden, 611 SW Kingston Ave, Portland, Oregon 97205
When:  Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 1 and 2 pm
For more information: Chado the way of Tea, (503) 223-1321

Tanabata Chakai

A wonderful day of tea Saturday at the Issoan Tea School.  Students celebrated the Star Festival with a chakai put on the advanced class who invited the new students who had never attended a chakai before.

We went through the planning process from choosing a theme, utensils, poetic names, hand made invitations to making sweets.

Students arrived at the school very early to clean everything, top to bottom tea room, mizuya, machiai and walkway outside.

They washed and dried all the utensils and trays and bowls for the light meal.  We cooked the food and arranged the trays.

The tea room and mizuya were then set up and we rehearsed the order of the gathering.

Then everyone changed into kimono and the guests began to arrive.  Even though it was a lot of work, I think everyone had a good time.

Thank you guests and thank you hosts for a wonderful tea day.

Rennovations complete at Issoan Tea Room

To my readers, I apologize for the lapse in blogging this last month.  I will do better going forward.

For those of you who have emailed me asking if I was going to continue blogging and if I am okay, thank you and yes, I am okay just very busy this summer.

I thought that I would post some photos of the newly rennovated Issoan Tea Room:

 

This is the entry way into the tea room

 

Awning detail

Door handle detail

Tea room interior

Fusuma door detail

Shoji Window and detail

Overhead shoji lamp

I would like to express my gratitude to my design and construction manager, my husband.  As you can see, he does beautiful work. It was his ideas to take the old book of tea utensils apart and apply them to the fusuma.  He also wanted to incorporate the piece of wood given to us in the door and door handle.  And the shoji lamp with its curved supports are all his own design and execution.   Thank you so much.

Thank you also to my students who were patiently waiting for the tea room to be done.  We can now have classes here again.

New Beginner Class Starting

Introduction to Chanoyu

The Japanese Tea Ceremony

Harmony, purity, respect and tranquility.  These are the four principles of tea ceremony distilled from Japanese culture.  In this ten week class, students will be introduced to Chado, the way of tea. The arts of Japan will be examined through the ritual preparation and drinking of matcha, Japanese ceremonial tea.   

 

Students will participate in at least six tea ceremonies, an incense ceremony, and kimono dressing.  Japanese architecture, gardening,ceramics, flower arranging and calligraphy will also be covered. The final class will be a formal tea gathering for friends and family at the Portland Japanese Garden authentic tea house.

 

 New Class: Starts Wednesday, Wednesday March 2  7:00 – 8:30 pm.

3826 NE Glisan St.
Once a week for 10 weeks

Fee: $250, materials will be available for purchase at class.

Space is very limited.  Please call 503-645-7058 or email Margie to register

Marjorie Yap, Instructor, Urasenke Tradition of Tea

margie@isoantea.com

Social Hour

One of our students planned a lovely New Year's Party at a new local Japanese restaurant in Portland, Shigezo.

We had reservations for one of the tatami rooms and all the students (yes even the men) came in Kimono. It was a lovely party, the food was good -- even the giant sushi roll -- and everyone who attended got a gift.  Thank you Michelle for setting this up.

New Class Introduction to Chanoyu, The Japanese Tea Ceremony

Introduction to 

Chanoyu, the Japanese Tea Ceremony

Harmony, purity, respect and tranquility.  These are the four principles of tea ceremony distilled from Japanese culture.  In this ten week class, students will be introduced to Chado, the way of tea. The arts of Japan will be examined through the ritual preparation and drinking of matcha, Japanese ceremonial tea.   

Students will participate in at least six tea ceremonies, an incense ceremony, and kimono dressing.  Japanese architecture, gardening,ceramics, flower arranging and calligraphy will also be covered. The final class will be a formal tea gathering for friends and family at the Portland Japanese Garden authentic tea house.

New Class: Starts Wednesday, Wednesday January 12  7:00 – 8:30 pm.

3826 NE Glisan St. 
Once a week for 10 weeks

Fee: $250, materials will be available for purchase at class.

www.issoantea.com for more information.

Space is limited, call 503-645-7058 to register

Marjorie Yap, Instructor, Urasenke Tradition of Tea

margie@isoantea.com

The season for Udon

Cold and rainy weather make it an ideal time for udon noodles.  When I lived in Kyoto, ankake udon was one of my favorite winter time dishes.  Ankake udon soup is thickened with starch and grated ginger adds a zing and warmth.  I love the big fat noodles and you can add your own garnishes to suit your own taste.

We recently had a meeting to re-start our Japanese tea garden project at Ryokusuido.  Part of the meeting was making and eating udon.

Below is a recipe for ankake udon from one of my former students, Ikuko.  Thank you for teaching us.


Ankake Udon (recipe for 2 people)
Make dashi soup stock. You can do this one of three ways:

1. From scratch:  for each 2 1/2 cups of water use a piece of dried konbu (kelp seaweed) 2" x 1". Wipe konbu with a clean damp cloth and place in pot of cold water. Bring to boil.  Just before water boils, remove and discard konbu.  Add 1/2 cup of katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and remove from heat.  Strain any foam that forms on the surface.  Let bonito flakes settle to the bottom.  Let steep for a few minutes then strain through several layers of cheesecloth. 
2. Use dashi powder (hon-dashi or dashi-no-moto) following package directions.  Try to find one without MSG.
3. Use a combination of konbu and dashi powder.

Make Udon soup:
For every 2 1/2 cups of dashi stock add:
2T sake
2T mirin
2T shoyu (soy sauce)
1/2 t salt
Adjust the combination above to your own taste.

Then mix a paste of
2 1/2 T of katakuriko (potato starch) or cornstarch
4T of water
Stir slowly and gently into the heated stock. The soup will begin to thicken, allow to simmer gently for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Cook udon noodles in boiling salted water until done (approx. 8-10 minutes). Drain.

To serve, put Udon noodles in a bowl, add soup and garnish with 1/2 to 1 t. of fresh grated ginger, 2T of finely sliced green onions, and shichimi (blended hot peppers) to taste. Sliced shiitake mushrooms cooked in dashi, and/or fried tofu squares may be added.  Other vegetables (also cooked in dashi) can be added for additional garnish.

Enjoy!

Tea Shop Grand Opening

My good friends Chuck and Heather have opened their tea shop in Portland, Oregon.   They have been in business for a number of years as wholesale tea merchants but now  have opened a retail tea shop at 724 NE 22nd Ave. Portland, OR.  

 There is a "tea island" full of samples where you can see and smell the different kind of teas they offer and a wonderful tea bar where they'll cheerfully brew up any number of teas you care to taste.  All the teas they sell are loose leaf or cakes and they'll give you advice on the best way to brew, store and sample the wonderful, wide world of teas.

In the shop part of the store they sell all kinds of tea pots, storage canisters, brewing devices, empty teabags tea bowls and more.  Stop by and sample their selection of fine loose leaf tea: white, green, black, oolong, flavored, pu-erh. 

For those of you not in Portland, they have an online website:  The Jasmine Pearl and tell your favorite retailer that they need to stock tea from The Jasmine Pearl.

I am back

I apologize for not posting the last couple of weeks.  It has been a crazy summer.  The intensive is complete, the craft show was a success, and now my son is a married man. What a beautiful wedding and fun reception.

In the meantime, here are a few events coming up this weekend:

Chanoyu Presentation at the Portland Japanese Garden

1 pm and 2 pm at Kashintei, the tea house

FREE with Garden admission

3rd Annual
C.H.A .  Art Show & Sale
Sat. & Sun., August 21 and 22, Noon to 6pm


This Show represents a collection of artisans who study Chado ~The Way of Tea
~a way of beauty
~a way of life.


Together, with a few Guest Artists, we offer our work in the spirit of peace & hospitality.
Ellen Ankenbrock ~ Richard Brandt
Patrick Gracewood ~Rebecca Owens
Duchess Patrick ~jan Waldmann ~ Margie Yap


Address: 8855 SW 36th Ave., Portland, Oregon, 97215
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
(The street view is old. The peach trees in the lawn are in Barstow for an extended vacation.)


***Look for the Giant Japanese Banner***


Directions: I-5 South, Exit Multnomah Blvd. Turn Left (South ) on 35th Ave.
Continue straight, do not fork to left.
This becomes SW Spring Garden Ct. which winds to the right and ends at Dolph Ct.
Turn left on Dolph Ct.
Turn right, almost immediately, onto 36th Ave.
8855 will be on your right. Park on street.


(Checks and Cash Only. Thx!)

Tea house in Seattle

July 28, 2010
Recycled bottles pop up again, and this time they're a teahouse
By LYNN PORTER
Journal Staff Reporter

Architect Christopher Ezzell will spend next week in Occidental Park in a teahouse he fashioned from recycled plastic bottles.

The structure, created with the help of the Seattle branch of the Urasenke Foundation and others, will be made of 800 two-liter plastic bottles. Half of the bottles were previously used for a temporary art installation titled “waste not” in Pioneer Square's Nord Alley.

The cut-up bottles will be tied together with fishing line to make walls. The walls will hang off an aluminum hoop structure supported by aluminum poles, almost like a shower curtain.

“But hopefully it's going to look nicer than a shower curtain,” Ezzell said. The roof will be of Mylar previously used as a sail. Despite the effort at sustainability, some of the materials won't be green. “We couldn't be 100 percent LEED-certified,” quipped Ezzell, who heads a Vashon Island design firm called e workshop.

The project is equal parts architecture and performance installation. The idea is to build a three-dimensional structure where visitors can experience the intimate tea ceremony in which host and guest celebrate together.

“The experiment here is ‘can we have this experience in a busy urban setting and enjoy the values of (it)?'” said Ezzell, who is a student of tea at Urasenke. Inside the teahouse will be a platform made of reused cedar and cardboard, a flower arrangement and poem card that speaks to being in the moment. Ezzell and foundation members will demonstrate the tea ceremony Aug. 2 through Aug. 7, although the structure will be up through Aug. 8.

The teahouse is part of artSparks 2010, a program of King County's 4Culture and the city. The installations and performances — from street theater to temporary sculpture to music — will run through October in Occidental Park. The series began June 3 with “Build Here” by Room for Assembly, an artist collective that experiments with architecture.

Ezzell, who has a bachelor's in architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, practiced architecture in New York City for 15 years before moving to Seattle. In 2004 he founded e workshop. The firm's work includes residential projects, Long Provincial restaurant and sidewalk cafe in downtown Seattle, the butter London shop at Sea-Tac, and the plaza and pedestal for the Alki Statue of Liberty in collaboration with Cast Architecture.

Copyright 2010 Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

The Five Senses and Tea

All five senses are stimulated in the tea room. Please add descriptions in the comment section of how your senses come alive in the tea room during your own practice. Here are some of the ways tea comes alive for me:

Sense #1: Sight

• Watching the host prepare tea
• Admiring the appearance of the tea room
• Reading the scroll and admiring the flowers

Sense #2: Hearing

• The whistling kettle making the sound of the wind in the pines
• The cascading water falling into the bowl
• The rustle of the host's kimono as he / she prepares the tea

Sense #3: Taste

• The pleasure of eating and tasting the sweet
• Enjoying that first sip of the tea
• Eating the kaiseki meal

Sense #4: Smell

• The aroma of the tea as I lift the bowl to drink
• The smell of the incense, if using

Sense #5: Touch

• The feel of the tea bowl in my hands while drinking
• The feel of the dogu during haiken
• The difference between hot and cold: the steam from the warm water and the refreshing touch of the wet cloth as you purify the chawan

How I Came to Tea

I am very pleased to have been asked to be a guest contributor on this blog. Let’s start at the very beginning, because as Julie Andrews said in “The Sound of Music,” it’s a very good place to start.

I came to the world of the Japanese Tea Ceremony through my affection for loose leaf teas. I was living in the Seattle-area at the time and was looking to purchase some open-top tea bags from Teavana at the Bellevue mall. In the store, they were promoting matcha and green teas and I noticed a display with a unique looking wooden whisk. They had an iron kettle, a can of matcha and a book with the title “Japanese Tea Ceremony.” I took the book down to flip through it and admire the pretty pictures. I didn’t really understand what I was looking at but I thought to myself: “Wow that looks cool!”

A few years passed and I didn’t give studying tea much thought. I had moved to Portland and was visiting the serene Portland Japanese Garden for the first time. By fate, I happened to be there during a Tea Ceremony Demonstration. In that particular demonstration, the presenter requested a few guests to join her for a bowl of tea in the tea house. I was lucky enough to be selected.

I sat cross-legged and awkward in the tea room for the first time, and I knew I was in a special place. I’m not a particularly religious person (I consider myself to be a spiritual person) and that day I was surprised that being in a tea room gave me a spiritual experience. It made me feel small and insignificant. I know that’s a hackneyed expression, but it was a deep pulling in my gut that I couldn’t ignore. It was the same feeling I get when I look up into a starry, cloudless sky. I was feeling this spiritual tug and I just tried to pay attention to my host, listen to the presenter’s speech and soak up this rich and special opportunity I was given.

When it came time to have my first drink of tea, I was surprised by how GOOD it was! The foam just slid right down and the sweet – it brought out all the unique flavors of the tea. I knew tea could be good but MAN. This was like nothing I had ever tasted before. I knew right then I wanted to see what this Chanoyu was all about. And that, my friends, is what brought me to this cultural treasure.

Guest Contributor to the SweetPersimmon Blog

I am very excited to introduce to you a new contributor to the SweetPersimmon Blog.  Her name is Karla and she has been studying Chado for nearly a year and a half.   She tweets under the name ChadoEnthusiast and I have included her twitter account in the left hand column of the blog.  Please click on over there, join the list of her fans. and welcome Karla.

Guest Etiquette for Chanoyu, the Japanese Tea Ceremony

Guest Etiquette for Chanoyu, the Japanese Tea Ceremony

Have you ever attended a Japanese Tea Ceremony? If you know the proper things to do you won’t be nervous and you can enjoy it.  The guest in this ceremony has an important role to play to create each unique experience.

Learn the proper etiquette for a guest, what to bring to a tea ceremony, how to thank the host and interact with other guests.  Students will participate in two tea ceremonies, enjoy a Japanese tea sweet and drink ceremonial matcha tea.

Tuesdays, June 15 and 22, 7:00-8:30 pm, Issoan Tea Room, 17761 NW Marylhurst Ct.,  Portland, OR
Or
Wednesdays June 16 and 23, 7:00-8:30 pm Ryokusuido Tea Room, 3826 NE Glisan St., Portland, OR
Fee $25 for two weeks
Limited enrollment, please register early
call 503-645-7058 or email margie@issoantea.com

Chado Presentations

There are two Chado presentations this week in Portland:

Friday May 14th, 12:30-1:30  Rock Creek PCC as part of the their Art Beat Week, I will be presenting Tea. The first 15 people to come will receive a sweet and a bowl of tea.  Free and open to the public.

Saturday, May 15th, The Portland Japanese Garden will sponsor a public tea demonstration at 1 and 2 pm at the Kashintei tea house.  This is a demonstration only.   Free with Garden admission.

Sakura Festival

Sakura Festival on Thursday, April 22 from 1 to 4 p.m. 
Sponsored by the Clark College, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Rotary, the festival is free and open to the public. The celebration will be held under the historic cherry trees near the Clark College music building and the O’Connell Sports Center.

Modeled after the Japanese tradition of picnicking and celebrating the arrival of spring beneath the blossoming cherry trees, the Sakura Festival recognizes the international friendship between the City of Vancouver and its sister city, Joyo, Japan.  Established in 1995, the sister-city relationship between Vancouver and Joyo is marking its 15th anniversary.

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.

At 1 p.m., the opening ceremony will feature groundbreaking for another international gift of friendship -- a Japanese garden. The garden is a gift from Chihiro Kanagawa, President & CEO of Shin-Etsu Chemical Company, the parent company of SEH America, to the City of Vancouver. The garden will be located next to the Clark College music building. Based on discussions with the City of Vancouver, construction of the garden will likely begin in the summer of 2011 with dedication of the garden during the 2012 Sakura Festival.  

Guest Etiquette for Chakai

I hope everyone had a happy new year celebration.  I apologize for the long absence from the blog, but I had to take care of a few family matters over the holidays.

We have already reviewed what a guest should bring to a chakai: your fukusa basami with fukusa,fan, kaishi sweets papers, sweets pick, handerchief, tissues, and plastic baggies.  The guests should arrive 15 minutes before the chakai is about to start.  There may be a guest book sign in and a place to put your monetary contribution.  When I was in Kyoto the minimum you would contribute for a chaji was $100 and often it was more. It is always nice if you can go to the bank and get crisp new bills.  If you do not know how much to contribute, please ask the shokyaku when he calls you.  Please put your contibution in an envelope with your name on the outside. You can also get fancy paper envelopes with red and white knots to put in your monetary contribution.

The host or hanto (assistant) will bring hot water called kumidashi to the guests in the waiting room and invite them out to the koshikaki machiai (outdoor waiting bench).  The shokyaku is served first and the otsume or last guest will collect the cups. The shokayku will say to the next guest "osakini" and make his/her way through the garden to waiting bench.  Sometimes there will be a tobako bon and enza (woven cushions).  The shokyaku will distribute the cushions and and guests can examine the tobako bon while they are waiting.

The host will then bring a pail of water to the tsukubai (hand rinsing basin)  and dampen the plants and stones around it.  Then the host will empty the pail into the basin, return it to the tea room and rinse his/her hands and mouth.  Finally the host will come to the middle gate, open it and bow silently inviting the guests into the tea room.  All the guests will rise when the host is rinsing hands, and bow back to the host.

The first guest will say "osakini" to the next guest, rinse his hands and mouth and enter the tea room.  Other guests will follow with the last guest closing the gate, and the nijiriguchi (crawling in entrance) with a sound so that the host knows when all the guests have entered the tea room.  Before entering the tea room, guests will put their fan in front of them and look inside the room before entering.  Then they will slide over the threshold, turn and place their slippers together and stack them outside the entrance.  The guest will proceed tot he tokonoma, view the scroll and other displays, then go to view the kettle before sitting in his assigned place.

When all guests are settled, the host opens the sliding door and the shokayku invites the host in for aisatsu (greetings).  Each guest in turn is welcomed with a few words. The shokyaku askes the host to read the scroll and makes a few comments about everything that the host has prepared so far:  displays in the entrance and waiting room, kumidashi, tobakobon, garden.

After the greetings, the host will either build the fire (if sumi is to be layed) or serve the meal. The shokayku is served first and all guests wait until the last guests is served before beginning the meal.  The host may come in for subsequent courses and sake.  It is considered polite to stop eating while the host is serving. When the host leaves the room guests may eat again.  Please do not dawdle over the meal.  If the charcoal fire is burning and it takes too long for the meal to complete, the timing of the gathering will be thrown off.  Usually the shokayku will try to keep everyone on track. At the completion of the meal, the guests will put any left over food or decoration not edible in a plastic bag to dispose of later. (that is why you bring plastic bags to a chakai).  Then the guests will wipe the bowls with tissue (blotting is actually better so as not to scratch the lacquer).  This is not scrubbing to clean up, merely to be polite and not leave anything unsightly for the host to clean up.  The guests put bowls, sake cups and other utensils on the tray.  When the guests have all completed the meal, they tap or drop the chopsticks to signal the  host that they are done.  The host will come and get the trays one by one.

Finally, the host will serve the sweets for koicha  and ask that they pass them around before going to the garden to rest while he cleans and prepares the tea room for koicha.  It is the otsume (last guest) job to see that the sweets dishes are left by the host entrance before leaving the room.  The guests then exit the room by going first to the tokonoma, then the kettle before leaving.

Once outside the guests can use the facilities and sit in the outdoor waiting bench.  The host will call the guests in with a bell, gong or some other device and the guests will go to the tsukubai and enter the tea room just as they did previously:  viewing the tokonoma and then the kettle and now the display for koicha.

Koicha is served and then if there is a charcoal fire it is replenished before usucha.  Before usucha is served the tobako bon is brought in or cushions or benches for the guests comfort.  The host then brings in the dry sweets and makes usucha.  The host is prepared to make at least two bowls of usucha for each guest. After the final bow after usucha, the door is closed. 

By now the guests legs are aching, but are reluctant to depart. The guests once more view the tokonoma and kettle and depart the tea room. It is the otsume's job to put all the cushions, sweets trays, extra bowls etc. by the host entrance before he departs.  The guests leave the tea room but stay close while the otsume shuts the door with a sound so that he host knows all the guests have left the tea room. The hosts immediately enters the tea room and pokes his head out the nijiguchi and says a final goodbye to the guests.  He waits until all of the guests have left his sight before closing the door and begin clean up.

The guests should gather their things and depart immediately.  There is a tendency to linger and chat, but it is not considered polite to the host who really cannot begin to clean up until after all the guest have departed.  If there is going to be a second seki, you will be preventing the host from doing the necessary preparation for next guests. It is better to depart and stop somewhere else to visit and chat.  Again, please do not inconveinece the host by staying any longer than necessary.

After the chakai, please WRITE a thank you note to the host. This is not just polite, it is necessary to aknowlege all the preparation the host has done.  You may include something memorable about the tea gathering, and let the host know that you appreciate how much time and effort he went through to make you feel welcome.

Invitation to a tea gathering

Like any formal invitation,  an invitation to a tea gathering will have a time, date and place.   But look closer at the invitation.  The host of the tea gathering has included a seasonal poem, reference, greeting or saying that tells you about the occasion for  the gathering.  It may even hint at the theme for the gathering.


In a cold, cold dawn
the golden fragment of a
waning moon -- how bright!


The wording of the invitation will be humble, something like --  "The end of the year approaches and the remaining days are getting shorter.  Let's not put off meeting again so please come to share a simple meal and a bowl of tea."

You will also notice that the invitation is hand written.  In Japan, these invitations were callgraphied in your best brush writing on beautiful paper and hand delivered.  Today in America, hand written invitations with appropriate illustrations sent through the mail is appropriate. No flyers, cutesy printed invitations or emails for tea gatherings.

Then the time, the date and the place.  An RSVP such as "Please let me know by Dec. 31 if you will attend"

Sometimes there will be a list of the other guests, especially the Shokyaku or first guest.

When you receive an invitation to a tea gathering, etiquette demands that you RSVP as soon as you can. Do not wait until the deadline or make the host call you and ask if you are attending or not.

If you are the shokyaku, the host will provide you with a list of the other guests who have confirmed attending.  It is the shokayku's responsibility to call each of the other guests and tell them the order of seating, what to bring to the gathering, the format of the gathering and answer any questions they may have. Also the shokyaku will either call or visit the host (zenrei) to bring a gift and ask the host if there is anything that they can do before the gathering.  A polite guest other than the shokayku should call or write a note to the host a couple of days before to express thank you for the invitation. (This is in ADDITION to the RSVP).

As a guest, you are expected to bring your fukusa basami with fan, fukusa, kaishi, sweets pick, plastic bag and handkerchief.  As shokyaku, I always bring an extra set of fukusa, fan, papers, plastic bags and handkerchief just in case anyone forgets to bring them.

As a guest, please arrive 10-15 minutes before the start of the gathering to take care of hanging up your coat, putting on your tabi (or removing tabi covers), and stowing your belongings.  Sometimes the host will make a changing room available for those wearing or putting on kimono.  Please arrive in time to be dressed and ready 10-15 minutes ahead of time, and try not to disturb your host with requests such as helping you put on your kimono or tie your obi.

Next:  Anatomy of a tea gathering

Anagama kiln and preivew of the Holiday Sale

Despite bitter cold and a horrendous East wind blowing last Sunday, my husband and I were invited to the opening of the anagama firing by Richard Brandt and crew.  I have attended a firing before, but I had to leave before the kiln was opened.  This time though, the previous week the kiln was fired for 5 days -- that is they fed it more than four cords of wood, then sealed it up to cool and Sunday was the opening.  This was very exciting as the fire is unpredictable and what went into the kiln may or may not resemble what comes out, depending on the fire, the flames and the placement in the kiln.  That is the magic of an anagama firing.

 Last Sunday we unloaded the anagama kiln and I must say that it's the best firing I've ever taken part in. The frozen wind and numb hands were not even a bother because the work was so fantastic. The colors are outstanding. The carnage low. Plenty of startling surprises. Everything seemed to fall into place. A labor of love it remains. I am very excited to share this work with you.  ~ Richard Brandt

We got there as they were taking the bricks down from the front of the kiln.  I was surprised at how orderly it was and the crew was very careful to stack each brick as it came from the door in order for the next people to seal up the front more easily.  Then the ash was swept away from the firebox and everything cleaned out before any pieces were taken out.    One of the first pieces to be taken out was a little figurine.It was found standing among the ashes in the firebox. It was on the lower front shelf and it had fallen off but remained standing as if it had jumped into the fire.

Here are a couple of photos as the first pieces were unloaded from the kiln:


While everything looks monochrome in these photos, there was plenty of drama and color when the pieces were unloaded.  There were so many spectacular vases, bowls, tea pots and sculptures:



I just wanted to preview a few pieces that Richard will be showing at the sale and (modestly) show some of the handbags I made from kimono material that will also be featured at the show.

Nishiura Ryokusuido
3826 NE Glisan St.
Portland Oregon 97229
Friday evening opening reception 7-9 pm

Saturday and Sunday 12-5 pm

I hope you will come out to see Richard's work.  Here's a few handbags made from kimono and obi that will be featured.