10 things I learned at Midorikai

I look back on my time at Midorikai and I thought about what I had learned there. Some of the lessons I learned there have nothing to do with tea and yet they have everything to with tea and life.I am still striving to put these into practice every single day.

1. Be open to the experience that life presents to you. Say yes more often than no. Opportunities may not look like what you expected or wished for.
2. Be thankful everyday for the life you have. Gratitude, even for your troubles because they help you grow.
3. Be kind to other people. It doesn't take anything away from you to encourage, listen closely, say something nice or do something for someone.
4. Do your best, all the time. You cannot live life at half-speed, there simply is not enough time.
5. Leave something for people who follow you. If you develop knowledge or expertise, pass it on. It does no good if it dies with you.
6. The people you don't get along with are your teachers. At the minimum, it is good training for you to learn how to handle people and situations you don't like.
7. Excuses are a waste of time.
8. Be generous. You will be amazed at how much comes back to you.
9. Be careful about acquiring things. The more you own the less space you have. What you buy or accumulate says a lot about you.
10. Learn to let go. Of grudges, of mistakes, of behaviors that don't serve you, of people who are no longer good for you.

Gomei discussion

I have been having an extended discussion with a commenter about gomei.  See this post and the comment thread.

For the guests, learning the gomei is of particular interest and in our discussion the commenter said,

"It sounds like the choice of a seasonal name is, at least partly, also the gift of reminding the guests of a shared cultural experience. . . . Perhaps the best gomei is not only one that is seasonally approprite [sic], but also unites the host and guests in the warm feelings of a shared remembrance."

This is a nice way of putting it and I really want to make the point that the gomei while seasonal are also allusional, that is they evoke feelings or remind people, of the seasonal moment.  The gomei themselves are a shortcut to those feelings and shared experiences.

So if you are going to use a local seasonal gomei,  make sure that everyone in the room can relate to what you are talking about and that the gomei can evoke some shared cultural or seasonal experience.  The kigo, or words that evoke the season in Japanese culture are a great reference for seasonal gomei.  You might try this link,  HAIKU KIGO Poetic Seasonal Expressions.

Another part of the discussion was about zen gomei for koicha.  I am not a Zen practioner, and I have not studied the Zen sayings, so it is difficult to come up with good koicha gomei. I tell my students to think of the tea scroll that they know.

Wa kei sei jaku - or a combination of wakei (harmony and respect)
Nichi, nichi kore ko jitsu
Ichigo, ichie
Matsu kaze
Buji kore kinin

Are some scrolls you know, so take a phrase from them.  Also: 

"It pays to pay attention. When someone else offers a Zen gomei, or your teacher suggests one, write it down with notes on meaning(s) or if it was from a Zen phrase or poem. Whenever you go to chakai and they give a name, write it down. I keep a notebook of good gomei both seasonal and Zen. If you are ambitious, you might try to research them from famous utensils . I found Haku gyoku "White jewel" from a famous (meibutsu) bunrin chaire with a drip of glaze, in an exhibition catalog."

Do you have other suggestions?   Please let's continue the discussion in the comments.

Winter intensive

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 the charcoal fire gozumi.  One student brought a sushi platter and I made ankake udon for everyone.  It was such a success, that we plan to make it an annual event.

Shozumi and Gozumi, laying the initial fire and reubuilding the fire were particular highlights.  We don't often get to do these procedures, and especially gozumi so it was a special treat.  The charcoal is kind of like your timing device to keep your tea gathering on track. The charcoal is made from special wood and cut into specific size and shape to burn for a specified length of time.   It is amazing to hear the singing of the kettle suddenly go silent (and it does seem to be sudden) all at once.  It is also a clue to the guests that it is time to take their leave.

Of the two, gozumi is more difficult because you never know what the fire is going to look like as it burns down.  Many factors contribute to how the fire burns, from the haigata (ash form), to how the initial fire was laid, to shape of the kettle, how big the furo, how deep the ro,  to how long the fire has burned. 

So as a host, the first thing you do when you remove the kettle replenish it is to observe how the fire has burned.  How much charcoal is left?  Did the center collapse?  How much of the dozumi (large front charcoal) has burned?  Then you rearrange the coals to make room for fresh charcoal and lay them in the fire.  You have to use your own judgement whether to use all the charcoal in the basket or only use part of them.

It was a nice fire the students built.  And within 30 seconds of returning the kettle to the fire, we once again heard the matsukaze, the sound of the wind in the pines and the murmuring of the kettle.

Claiming the Prize

One of the exercises we did while Machida Gyotei sensei was here was Ko-tauki kagetsu.   I have never had the chance to do this one before, and it was something I was excited to participate in.

In regular kagetsu, there are 5 participants and 4 bowls of usucha are made.   The roles of the players are chosen by lot by picking bamboo cards called fuda from a pouch to determine who makes tea and who drinks tea.

In ko-tsuki kagetsu, the first guest chooses an incense from 3 different ones, and prepares the burner so all of the participants can smell (listen to) the incense.  Each incense packet has the name of that particular incense written on it, and becomes the theme for the kagetsu.  Our chosen incense was named, "16th night moon" or "the day after the full moon."   After everyone has finished listening to the incense, the participants move from the 8 mat room to the four and a half mat room and make 3 bowls of usucha just like basic kagetsu.  At the end, the participants all move back to the 8 mat room and the host brings in a portable desk and brush and ink set and prepares the record of the kagetsu with the participants names, the name of the incense and then everyone composes and writes down their poem based on the theme.

After everyone has written their poem, they are read aloud and commented upon, and lots are drawn for the prize -- the record of participants and poems.  And guess what?  I won the prize as you can see above.  Such a wonderful prize for a chado geek like me.

Confessions of a Chado geek

It has been more than a week since we had an intensive workshop here in Portland with Machida Gyotei sensei and we are grateful to Urasenke and Oiemoto for sending him to Portland.   I don't remember the last time we had a Gyotei sensei in Portland, but I have studied with them while I was in Kyoto, Japan and Seattle.

It always takes me awhile to process what was presented because it is like drinking from a firehose, there is so much information presented in such a short time.

As always we start the seminar with warigeiko, back to basics of folding the fukusa.  Though each time we do it, I learn something new.  Machida Gyotei sensei teaches in a little different manner than others I have studied with.   He asks questions designed to make you think deeply about what you are doing.  For example, he asked us the first day, "Why to you fold the fukusa in this manner to purify utensils?   Did you know that the fukusa is not exactly square?  Why to you think that is?

We studied from the very basic usucha procedures to the most advanced daisu  procedures in the course of three very full days.   On the third day in the afternoon, we practiced kagetsu, including two that I have not done before ko-tsuki kagetsu, and yojohan kagetsu (kagetsu in the four and a half mat room).

Machida Gyotei-sensei  offered practical advice in his lecture, Movement within the tea room, and got into some very philosophical aspects of Buddhist and Chinese daisu procedures, how to handle precious utensils and things to think about for later.  All with a charming and funny demeanor.

It was overwhelming and inspirational at at the same time.   And yes, I really needed that hot tub after sitting on my knees for three days.

The ash is important to the charcoal

This summer we have been fortunate to be able to burn charcoal and do sumidemae.  We can't make tea if the charcoal doesn't boil the water.  For some reason, the water boiled with charcoal tastes better, sounds better and the steam is more consistently fluffy and pretty.

Of course, it all begins with the haigata or ash form. The first time I saw the ash form, I thought it was some kind of cardboard, and I stuck my finger in the front of it and spoiled the look of it. Making the haigata takes patience and practice. 

When I was at Midorikai we got to burn sumi everyday, and that means one of the chores after dinner was to do the haigata for the next day.  Fortunately for me, I like to do it, and my fellow students didn't, so I did many ash forms during the furo season as I could.  When we switched to the ro season, I bought a furo, ash, gotoku and practiced  in my room just about every night.

I think we got one lesson on ash forms and the rest of the year we were left to discover for ourselves how to do it by practice and experience. Sometimes one of the teachers would come up to the mizuya after dinner and drop the haisaji (ash spooon) in the middle of the haigata.   If the spoon stood upright in the ash, it was too hard packed and the fire couldn't breathe.  If the spoon fell over in the ash, it was soft enough for the fire to burn.  Of course, either way, you had to do it over again.

A few things I learned about doing haigata: 

1. Don't spend more than 45 minutes playing with the ash.  The more you work it, the more it gets packed down.  Torigai-sensei used to say, "Better an ugly haigata that breathes, than a beautiful one that is too packed down."
2. There are three main tools to form the ash. The wide flat tool, the curved tool and the spear point tool. I use the wide flat tool for maybe 75-80%  of the time.
3. Let the ash tool do most of the work.  You really are not pushing down on the ash spoon to smooth it out.  Just lay the tool down gently on the ash and drag it across the surface of the ash.  You will get a beautiful smooth surface without it getting too packed down.
4. I usually start smoothing the front, then the back then the U shaped valley in the center.  Make sure the valley is deep enough to accommodate the height of the charcoal, plus the width of the kudazumi and edazumi so it won't get crushed when you put the kettle on the gotoku.
5. Sometimes the angle of what you want to do is very awkward.  Learn to use your left hand to work the right side of the form.   You may have to re-grip the tool in  a different place to get the angle you want.
6. The only place that is okay to pack down the ash is right behind the maegawara (front tile).  This helps hold the mae gawara in place.
7. Pay special attention to the corners and the points of the mountains.   It takes practice to make these smooth and sharp.
8. Smoothing and cutting around the gotoku and maegawara are the trickiest.  The mountain in the front should look like there is no interruption in the line and it looks like it goes right through the gotoku.

If you get a chance to work the ash, it becomes very meditative and sometimes addicting.  Relax and it will show in the final product.  Good luck.

Appropriate Dress

I have some new students and they were asking last week what is appropriate to wear to okeiko? What is appropriate to wear to a chakai?

The short response is kimono is always appropriate to wear in the tea room.  I almost always wear kimono, whether I am teaching, or receiving a bowl of tea in the tea room.  If you have kimono and know how to dress, please wear kimono.

What if you do not have kimono?  For women, a blouse and skirt or dresses are appropriate (not too short either, you will be sitting on the tatami). Slacks if you don't or won't wear a skirt. Long sleeves, please.  For men, loose fitting slacks and button down shirt are appropriate for okeiko. No shorts, jeans, short sleeves, tank tops or sleeveless shirts.

Consider chakai, semi formal events.  Kimono is always appropriate.  Men in sportcoats and tie, women in long dress, skirt and blouse or jacket.  Business attire is also appropriate. This is not the place to wear fleece jackets, jeans or even khakis. Definitely not track suits, sweat pants or even stretch pants or tights.   Women please tie your hair up so it doesn't fall in your face or on the back of your neck. Take off your hats when you come inside.

The thing is, tea is not an informal event. Our lifestyles have become so casual nowadays, it is hard to know what is appropriate.  Even the women's lacrosse team wore flip-flops to a Whitehouse reception.  If you are wearing something that you normally wear around the house, or to run to the store, take it up a notch for okeiko and two notches for chakai. It is good training to recognize what is appropriate to the occasion and dress accordingly. 

If you are dressing in kimono, that is another post.

Questions, comments?  I'll answer them in the comments.

More kama

Interestingly,  I talked about preaparing a new kama, but the last post didn't talk about caring for your kama when you use it.  So here are the notes:

Never touch the surface of the kama with your bare hands.  The oils from your hands and fingers could make permanent marks.  Use the kan (rings) to carry and move the kama.  Some people have a habit of carrying an empty kama with their hands on the inside of the mouth.  It is just a bad habit and don't do it.

For a chaji we fill the kama with cold water and place it on the coals just before the guests enter the room.   For class time we pre-heat the water and fill the kama.  The procedure for doing this is to rinse the kama with cold water.  You can use towels to turn the kama over to empty it (never use the kan to turn the kama over, you might break the lugs).  Put some cold water in the kama, about one fourth full.  Then, put a hishaku in the mouth of the kama and pour the hot water into the hishaku before it spills into the interior of the kama.   Fill the kama near the brim.  Use the hishaku to ladle hot water over the outside of the kama, wetting the whole surface of the outside.   The proper level of the water should be one cup below the rim.  Take a hishaku full of hot water and put the lid on.   Rinse the top of the lid with the water from the ladle.

Now you are ready to put the kan in and lift it from the sink. I should say here that the kan always travel together.  Hold them with the openings at the bottom, and your fingers and thumb side-to-side.  Separate them in each hand and twist them into the lugs of the kettle.  They twist in opposite directions, and it takes some getting used to.  Lift the kama and briefly blot it on a towel to get most of the water off the bottom.  When you carry the kama, hold it close to your body but not so close that you can get burned and put it on the burner in the tea room.  When you hear  "kama tori masu" get out of the way because someone is carrying a heavy kettle full of hot water.

Next, how to empty the kama

Introducing kagetsu

In 1747, shichijishiki or seven training exercises were created through the joint efforts of Joshinsai (seventh iemoto of the Omotesenke school),  Itto (eighth iemoto of the Urasenke school) and the abbot Mugaku Soen of  Daitokuji temple. It is said that it took ten years to develop the shichijishiki.

In these exercises, participants choose lots to determine their roles to complete the exercices.   The most simple is hira kagetsu where 5 participants draw lots from the moon, flower and ichi (one), ni (two), san (three) tiles to determine their place in the room.

During the course of the exercise, 5 bowls of usucha are made and partipants choose the tiles from the orisue (pouch) to determine who makes tea and who drinks tea.

The exercise requires participants to pay attention and be prepared to make or drink tea.   It requires team work, timing and emphasizes walking and moving around in the tea room.

I love kagetsu and there are many forms of kagetsu, just like there are forms of temae. For example:  koicha tsuki kagestsu (one bowl of koicha everyone drinks and 4 bowls of usucha),  sumi tsuki kagetsu (charcoal is layed and 4 bowls of usucha are made) and so on.

It is fun and I hope to be bringing this form of training to our classes soon.

It's harder than it looks

I have a group of new students and some of them have told me that doing tea looks so simple that anyone can do it.  That is until we start whisking matcha, or walking in the tea room.

When we begin training in something like tea, it seems like we start with the boring stuff when what we really want to do is to make tea.   I started training and it was five months before I made tea.  I started with cleaning tatami mats, preparation work and learning to be good guest before I made tea in the tea room for anyone.

Someone said to me that people fall in love with the idea of Rikyu's tea, but when they begin tea training they are disappointed to have to follow the rules and do boring stuff like clean tatami. They just want to make beautiful tea.   It is like going to a concert to hear Yoyo Ma play cello, but when they want to learn the cello, they are disappointed to have to do boring things like learning bowing techniques, tuning your instrument and playing scales when they just want to play Bach's sonata.

My husband is a wood worker and he does the most incredible work.  However, when he makes a Japanese joint in two pieces of wood, it just looks like two pieces of wood come together.   But what is hidden is the complicated carving and fitting that goes on inside the joint so that the two pieces of wood lock together without nails or screws or glue. It is simple, beautiful and will last a lifetime or more.

It seems like many things in life we don't see what is going on inside or behind the scenes.  We see successful athletes and marvel at their incredible talent, but don't see the hours and hours and hours of practice in the gym or on the field.  We see successful businessmen, but don't see the sacrifices to social and family life.   We see artists and craftsmen, masters of their art, but we don't see the years of training, struggle and financial sacrifice.

It's like we expect to be exceptional at something without putting in the time, practice, training and sacrifice. Most people don't want to put in 25 years of tea practice, or spend weekends and nights for years getting a business started. Most people don’t pull consistent all-nighters to nail some key projects, putting them in place for a big promotion.

But if you want to do something badly enough, you will do what ever it takes to make your dreams reality. You need passion to get you through the the tough times and difficult choices you need to make. They do say that nothing worthwhile comes easily and especially nothing worthwhile will come your way without you driving yourself..   Every day is a choice with how you spend your time, how do you choose?

Koshukai , the crucible for study

Recently, Bruce Hamana sensei in Kyoto asked recently, "Many people will devote themselves to mastering karate, shodo, and other disciplines, working many hours to learn the kata, etc. I wonder why we don't sit and do temae for hours to become competent? One or two temae at keiko once a week seems hardly enough."

Every year Christy Bartlett sensei comes to Portland for an intensive weekend of study.  Usually there is a Friday afternoon study, all day Saturday and all day Sunday.  We are very lucky to have this opportunity to study. As with all koshukai, everyone participates with warigeiko, the basics.   And even though I have been taught the basics every year for many years, I still learn many, many things during this part of the koshukai.  For example, We started this year with posture, sitting,bending, reaching and hand placements.  Then how to sit, stand, walk and turn.  We went on to cover the proper placement of your fukusa, kobukusa and kaishi in your kaichu-- or front of your kimono. 

Paying attention to these details makes me more aware that I don't always pay attention to the details of my own temae. And while doing things properly in warigeiko doesn't always mean that I pay attention to the exact things I learned in temae when so many other things are going on.  The lesson?   Be aware and pay attention to yourself even during the parts of temae  you have done a thousand times before.  After warigeiko usucha and then koicha temae were done, where we could put all we learned into practice.

This year Christy also concentrated teaching shichijishiki, or the group training exercises.  Originally there were seven of them, which I will cover in a post another time.  This koshukai we had enough experienced people to do some of the more advanced exercices.

We began the afternoon with hira kagetsu on Saturday -- where 5 people draw lots to determine placement in the room and of 4 bowls of usucha, who will make tea and who will drink tea.  Next we did koicha tsuki kagetsu, where one person makes koicha, all 5 drink and then 3 bowls of usucha are made and drunk chosen by lot.

On Sunday we started with satsubako tsuki kagetsu  -- two bowls of koicha that everyone drinks and then 3 bowls of usucha chosen by lot who drinks and who makes. The next exercise was gyakygatte hira kagetsu  -- 4 bowls of usucha are made and drunk, but with the additional twist of reversing the room so that the guests are opposite and tea is put out by the left hand. After that we did shaza -- where the 2nd guest arranges flowers, the 3rd guest lays the charcoal, the first guest prepares incense, the host makes koicha and the hanto makes usucha for the host. The final exercise was chakabuki -- the host makes 5 bowls of koicha.  Two of which are known, 3 unknown.  The 4 guests must taste the tea and identify which tea in the order it was made.  All of the answers are recorded and the record of the exercise is given to the person with the most correct answers.

As you can see, by drawing lots, you never know what role you will play until you draw for it, so all participants must be ready to perform whatever task he has drawn.  Because of specific timing, everyone must pay attention and because of the traveling to and from the temaeza, you must concentrate on correct footwork.  There is a lot going on all at once and all 5 participants must work together for the exercise to be successful.

This is also an endurance training, because if you are not participating as a host, guest or participating in the group exercise, you must sit on the sidelines in seiza to observe the proceedings. That's a lot of hours of sitting in the entire weekend. For relief, I recommend Working Class Acupuncture.

Starting Over

Sometimes we stop going to class for different reasons.  Jobs change, moving, heatlth reasons,  family obligations.  And sometimes we just need a break.  Coming back to class, it seems like we have to start all over agian.   Classmates have progressed while you were away; your body doesn't obey, and you have forgotten even the most basic moves.It can be intimidating and discouraging. 

A friend of mine has recently returned to the Pacific NW after six years on the East Coast. He left to pursue a job, but there was no teacher where he lived.  Returning to tea class was a great joy to him, only there were younger students in his class that had been studying for less time than he had been away and were so far above him doing advanced temae. He felt like he was starting over at a disadvantage.

In times like these, sometimes it helps to change your perspective. The way of tea is not a competition.  Each person has his own path and lessons to learn from tea. Where you are in your studies is where you need to be. Some of the most respected chajin have only the beginning certificates. 
 
What really matters in Chado is not how many advanced certificates you have or whether  or not you are keeping up with your classmates. It is not how quickly you master the temae, nor how many beautiful utensils you have.collected. It doesn't matter how long you have studied or how much you know about the history of tea.  What really matters is how you conduct yourself, how you are in the world. 

In tea we value the "humble but eager heart of the beginner."  Advanced tea people try to return the state of mind of seeing and learning something for the first time, even though they have done it a thousand tiimes before.

"The practice room is where you are trained as a human, even as you are sharply scolded and hesitate to humiliate yourself in the process.  The principle aim of your training is to enable you, when the time comes, to perform tea splendidly and without shame.  This is the reason why those who pass through the entranceway of this place are prepared to endure severe discipline.  For it is in this way that they gradually develop fine characters as people."  ~ From The Spirit of Tea

Summer gomei

Summer is hot, so choosing gomei for your chashaku at class should make the guests feel cool.

Here are a few suggestions:

shimizu-- pure flowing water
koke shimizu - moss by the stream
natsugasumi - summer mist
kunpu - fragrant breeze
shigure -sudden shower
himuro - ice store room
suzu kaze - cool breeze
sei ryu - pure flow
haku un - white clouds
taki -waterfall
sei fu- pure breeze
ko un -floating clouds
niji -rainbow
ukiha - floating lotus leaves
yugao - moon flower or white gourd flower
hotaru - firefly
tombo - dtragonfly
kawa semi - kingfisher
semi shigure - cicada whose call sounds like falling rain

Please add your suggestions in the comments.  I'll be returning from Hawaii and live blog posts on the 24th.

Issoan summer intensive starts Monday July 26.  Contact me for details.

Filling the natsume

One of the most important tasks to prepare for tea is to fill the natsume with the powdered tea.   Depending on the shape of the container, the tea inside will have different shapes.  When you are using a Rikyu style natsume the tea will be scooped into the container with the chashaku.   A soft mound of tea like a hill is formed with the top of the hill coming approximately to the top of the open container and the bottom of the hill coming to the bottom of the line where the lid fits on.   I have been taught various ways of doing this, and you will have to choose the one that works for you. 

One way is to turn the natsume in your left hand as you scoop tea with the right, turning the natsume to get an even symmetrical hill.  You can scoop the tea in without turning the natsume (my preferred method).  With a full scoop of tea, gently lay it in the natsume and let it fall sideways off the tea scoop so that it stays soft and fluffy.

When you have a hira or flat natsume the hill of tea is shallower (see picture)  and if you have a nakatsugi (middle cut) you make a sharp cone with the tea.

Some people then take a tissue or other tool and break up the clumps of tea on top, so that it is smooth.  I don't like to do this, I just scoop the tea in and if I have done it right, there won't be clumps of tea on top. If you have dropped tea around the outside or on the lip that holds the lid, carefully wipe it off with a tissue.  Try not to wipe the tissue inside the natsume.

It takes practice to fill the natsume correctly and beautifully.   Remember, when you put the natsume out for haiken, the guests will be looking at how well you mounded the tea and how carefully you scooped tea and left the hill intact.

Iced matcha

The summer months of July and August are the most challenging for tea people.  Asa chaji held in the early morning to beat the heat for this time of year is considerate of guests.  Images of water, waterfalls, rivers, streams and water dripping on moss project coolness.  A larger room with reeds instead of shoji to let in any cool breeze can be used.  Sunlight in the tea room is to be avoided, so a darker room will seem cooler. White flowers, unfinished wood utensils and images of water birds also add to the illusion of coolness.

I have also made iced matcha tea in the tea room at this time of year. When bringing in kensui, also bring in a chawan of ice cubes with a porcelain spoon.  Put the bowl of ice near the wall with your left hand. Make tea as usual but use a little less water.  Before putting out the teabowl for the guest, take the bowl of ice in your left hand and with your right hand scoop one or two ice cubes and gently float them in the matcha.  The hot water will melt the ice, and the tea will be cooled without disturbing the foam on the top.

I'll be in Hawaii for the next two weeks, family business and then I'll be attending the Midorikai reunion and the Hawaii Chado Seminar.  In the meantime, Karla will be posting and I have a few things that will  show up from time to time. When I get back I'll have a lot to blog about.

Prizes, prizes, prizes

This post will be the 300th post on the SweetPersimmon blog.  Thank you all for reading, following and commenting.   I love to hear from readers and I know there are many out there lurking.  So in honor of this milestone, I am running a contest --- With prizes!


Third prize is a CD of spoken word haiku "The Haiku Year," by yours truly.  A recording of haiku written over the course of a year, one every single day.  Yes, I'll include a written copy too.

Second prize is a copy of the book "Tea Here Now" by Donna Fellman and Lhasha Tizer.  Donna studied tea with me in Seattle and  is the director of Tea Education Alliance and owner of Bodhidarma Tea Company in Louisville, Colorado.
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First prize is a red raku teabowl.  This bowl was made by Tad Kamiya, an American potter.  There is a kiln crack in the rim, but it was repaired with gold and is a lovely.pinkish color.  Measurements are 120mm wide by 85mm tall.(that is 4 3/4" wide by 3 1/2" tall for us Americans). See photos below.

And now the criteria for the contest.   It's easy. It's all about mistakes.We all make them.  We are all embarrassed by them. It's not about perfection.  Minako sensei said, "If you are going to make a mistake, make it beautifully."   In the comments section of this post tell me about the worst tea mistake you ever made.  The juicicer the better.  So entertain us.  Tell us how you made the most beautiful of mistakes. Making them in public gets you extra points.  Prizes will be awarded by me as sole judge.

The contest will remain open until July 10.  Winners will be announced on the blog.  If you are chosen, please contact me with your shipping information.  I do ship internationally.

So I will start off with one of my favorite mistakes:   I was at a chakai in Kyoto, one with hundreds of guests.  It was at Yasaka shrine in the Gion in a large room, about 100 tatami mats.  It was one of the first chakai I attended in Japan.  There were about 100 little old tea ladies all lined up around the perimeter of the room, and I spoke not a word of Japanese.  We were pretty far away from where they were making tea, but they started serving the sweets from the kitchen. It was one of my favorites-- melt in your mouth senbei with a very pretty design on it.  After I passed the sweets tray I picked up my kaishi and the sweet dropped off of it and rolled onto the tatami.  And rolled, and rolled and rolled.  It kept rolling until it reached nearly the middle of the huge room and then it made a circle and took forever to settle down.  There was total silence as everyone watched the path of the runaway sweet.  Of course everyone was craning their necks to see whose sweet was that in the middle of the room.  I also was looking this way and that pretending that it was not my sweet.  Luckily one of the ladies serving tea from the mizuya stopped and picked it up on her way back to the kitchen.

Your relationship with your fukusa part 3

I've had a request in the comments about how to tame your fukusa. So here is part 3 on your fukusa.

Historical Note: The size of the fukusa was decided by So-on, the wife of Rikyu. Until that time, a small cloth like the kobukusa was used. The story goes that when Rikyu traveled to the battlefield at Odawara his medicine was in a natsume wrapped in a larger cloth by So-on and he felt that this size might be better for tea and he began to use it from that time.

Taming the fukusa is letting the fukusa know what its job is.  When it is brand new, it still thinks that it is a doubled piece of cloth. When you first get a fukusa it is folded in fourths and often comes in a box and/or cellophane envelope.  This is how you want to store your fukusa after class, not folded in eighths or jammed into your fukusa basami.  Clean your fukusa of tea powder before you put it away.  You need to have a good relationship with your fukusa, so treat it gently.

To tame your fukusa you need to fold it and put it in your obi properly, take it out of your obi and fold it to purify the natsume, fold it to purify the chashaku, fold it to put it back in your obi and fold it to put in your kaichu (front of kimono) enough times that it won't spring open on you at inappropriate moments. Please ask your teacher to show you how to do this properly.  For experienced students, it is always good to review this periodically during warigeiko to correct your form and to review the proper way to do it.  At workshops for advanced students and teachers, this is one of the things everybody is required to review no matter how advanced.

I have some students who have trained their fukusa improperly and get confused when folding it because the fukusa is telling them to fold in a certain way that is not right.  In that case, you have to re-fold it enough times properly until it (you) understand(s) the correct way to do it.

How many times?  That depends on your fukusa and your relationship. For me, it is at least 30 times and I try to do it in front of a mirror so I can see my form as I am doing it. I was at an intensive workshop once and the visiting sensei told me that I had too much of a results oriented relationship with my fukusa.  In other words, I was concentrating too hard on getting to the end of the folding procedures and not taking enough time for each step of folding it.  My assignment from that workshop was to enjoy the feel of the silk, be present for each step in folding my fukusa and not let my mind and heart skip to the end result of purifying the utensil.

Care and feeding of your fukusa

The fukusa is a silk cloth used for purification in chanoyu.  The fukusa is a symbol of the host.  Typically men's fukusa is a deep purple and women's are red or orange, though you will occasionally see colors other than these.  For example, those who have studied in Kyoto at Urasenke Midorikai have been given persmission to use the green fukusa for both men and women. It is recommended that for okeiko that the number 7 weight should be used so that it is not too bulky for folding properly nor too flimsy to hold its shape.

If you examine the fukusa closely, it is about 30 cm on each side.  You will see that it is not perfectly square -- this is by design. It will have seams on 3 sides and a fold on the fourth side.  Use this folded side to orient your fukusa. 

One of the first things we learn as tea students is how to fold the fukusa to put in the obi, and to put it away and the basic folding of the fukusa to purify the utensils.  When you have a new fukusa, it must be taught what to do.  This is sometimes referred to as taming the fukusa.  A  new fukusa seems to have mind of its own, but it doesn't have any stains, and it has a good energy, and a wonderful feel of the new silk. 

As the symbol of the host, it is essential that the you treat your fukusa with respect.  This symbolizes self-respect.  Always sit down to fold your fukusa.   After your temae,  in the mizuya, sit down, fold your fukusa properly and put away before you come back into the tea room to thank the sensei for your lesson.  Sensei can tell if you just throw down your fukusa without folding it. If you have trained your fukusa, it will tell you when you are folding it properly when you put it away.  The folds will lie flat and not spring open.

When purifying the chashaku, you will get tea on the fukusa.  During the temae, don't worry about getting tea on it.   It is more important at the time to make sure the chashaku does not have tea clinging to it when you put it out for your guests.   Later in the mizuya you can dust off the tea more thoroughly than when you held it over the kensui.   My sempai said that you could use one of those "magic brush"  lint brushes to remove tea from your fukusa.  As long as the tea does not get damp or wet, most of it should come off. 

I always get a new fukusa for Hatsugama to start out the new year clean and fresh.  Before a big event I will also get a new fukusa.  What do you do with old fukusa?  I use them for okeiko, or you can use them to display utensils.   If they are very stained or unusable, I sometimes use them to wrap up utensils for storage in their boxes.

Sitting seiza for tea

One of the most difficult things about studying tea is sitting seiza.   As I am getting older, it is getting more difficult for me to sit for long periods of time.  I do tell my students that like any other physical activity (and sitting seiza is a physical activity) you must get in shape.

Sensei once told my husband when he first began to study tea, to sit in the bathtub at home.   He did, but it was so painful for him that he thought that sensei recommended it because it was almost a relief to sit on tatami after sitting on the cold porcelain!  What she forgot to tell him was to fill the bath with hot water so that it would relax the muscles and tendons and help buoy up his weight.

Seriously, sitting seiza does not come naturally to us.  I tell my students that they need to get into shape.  Sitting once a week will only get you so far.  It helps to sit a little bit every day and work up to longer and longer periods of sitting.  I have my laptop computer on the coffee table and sit seiza while working on computer for as long as I can before I rest, or I sit seiza while watching TV to keep in shape.  Breathing, and keeping your mind focused on your temae will also help.

Sometimes, sitting on the meditation seat helps, especially with the ankles. New students usually need a sitting aid such as this stool. One thing to be very sure of is if your feet and ankles are numb, please be very careful and not get up until you get the feeling back into your feet.  We have time, and a good first guest will be able to tell a story, or discuss some aspect of the tea room, or utensils to help distract the other guests while the host recovers feeling in his legs. You can purchase one of these seats from SweetPersimmon.com.  It comes in its own little carry bag that gives you a little extra padding, too.

Another thing that I have discovered that helps is acupuncture.  In fact, if you are in Portland, I recommend Working Class Acupuncture, because they charge a sliding scale $15-35 per visit.  Very affordable.  It is community acupuncture. They treat you in lounge chairs in one big room. You can stay for as long as you like.  You can find other community acupuncture clinics all over the U.S.

Besides the pain of sitting seiza, acupuncture will help with a lot of other things, too.

Imperfect beauty

Trying to understand the wabi aesthetic of the tea ceremony is very difficult because it is difficult to quantify.  One of the principles of wabi is "fukanzen no bi"  or imperfect beauty. 

Most people thnnk that there is a universal kind of beauty, but each person has a different sense of beauty -- depending on our culture, education, country and upbringing.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  For example, the line from the ocean to Mt. Fuji is beautiful, but a cloud obscuring part of the line is more interesting and beautiful to some people.

The usual concept of beauty is close to perfect. Bronzes and celedon ceramics from China were of perfectly symmetrical beauty where each side matched.  The tea masters in Japan thought that it was boring.  They looked to Korean rice bowls -- asymmetrical, earth toned, rough textured and thought them beautiful.   These bowls, with their imperfections were more human. That led Rikyu to create raku.   Raku bowls, because they are not turned on the wheel, are made to fit in the hand and it doesn't conduct heat well so the hot tea in it will not burn your hand. Raku means enjoyment, ease, pleasure or happiness.

Oribe and shino ware are very popular with tea students and potters.  But these are not my personal favorites because there is so much bad oribe and shino copies out there.  Oribe knew just how far to push the boundaries, while copies of his work often go beyond.  Students think that just because it is distorted, or rough it must be wabi and therefore beautiful. Purposeful distortions of the form, sloppy craftsmanship, or just plain ugly pieces abound.  Wabi is not slobby.

Tea students must be able to differentiate between forgiving imperfection, and celebrating imperfection. Celebrating imperfection leads to weird stuff for its own sake rather than looking at the individual strength of the piece and forgiving its imperfections because of its strengths.