Elevate your temae

I have a few students who can no longer sit seiza on tatami.  Some of them are sad because there are only a few table style temae you can do.  And there is no difference in the seasons for table style.  So I had a plan for them.

In Portland, we have been rather snowed in for the last three days.  That means that Mr. Sweetpersimmon has been in the shop and I have been at the sewing machine.  Look what we completed this week.  I asked my husband to build me a tatami table so that my students who cannot kneel can sit and make tea on stools.  From photos and diagrams he designed and built not only a tatami table, but a table that can fit a sunken ro.  He also designed the two tables to be portable.  They fold up into two boxes.  Not only that, he made the right hand table so that it can be changed out for the furo season. This means that we can do any temae on this table.  Which is good, because he will soon close the tea room for phase 2 of the renovations, and we can still have class on the tatami table.

Portable elevated tatami with sunken ro

Movement within the tea room

One of the things Machida Gyotei sensei taught us about movement within the tea room is that when you are wearing kimono, only your feet are showing, so you want to make sure that you are walking, turning, sitting and standing in a way that doesn't look awkward and call additional attention to your feet.  Here are some of the points he emphasized:

1. Walk in the center of the tatami
2. Don't drag your feet, but lightly skim the tatami to make a slight swish when you walk
3. You should walk in the tea room as if you were trying not to kick up dust
4. When sitting down, make sure your toes and heels are together
5. Likewise when you are standing up, make sure your heels are together so people behind you can't see all the way up your kimono.
6. Stand up as if a string was pulling on your head straight up
7. When turning from the temaeza, move your heel back at 45 degrees but don't separate your feet too much
8. Sit in front of your guest to serve sweets
9. Move slightly to the side before standing up in front of someone.  Slide straight back with one foot before turning away

One of the reasons we don't step on the black lines separating tatami mats is because in olden times, tatami did not cover the entire floor.  Only nobles sat on tatami.  So there was a change in elevation between the tatami and floor.  If you stepped on the black line, your foot would be partly on tatami and partly on the floor, very awkward.

Most of the movement within the tea room makes sense, and as Machida Gyotei sensei says, "try your best to follow these guidelines, but it won't be the end of the world if you miss something."  

Upon entering the tearoom

Upon entering the tearoom, it is important above all else
that both host and guests compose their frame of mind
so as to be completely free of extraneous thought; this attitude
should be harbored within and not displayed outwardly.
~ Murata Shuko (d. 1502)

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.

Issoan Tea Room closed for renovations

My construction manager assures me that I will like it when it is finished.  Whenever there are renovations, we just have to live in the mess for awhile, but in the end it will all be worth it.  Just trust the process. 

I am rather excited about these renovations and I hope to post some other photos as the work goes on.

Meanwhile, classes still being held at Ryokusuido Tea Room.