The journey of the kettle

As the days get warmer, the kettle begins to make its journey from the sunken winter hearth back up to the summer brazier.   About mid-March the Tsurigama, or hanging kettle is used.  It is suspended from a chain attached to a hook in the ceiling.  No gotoku or trivet is used.  Extra large rings hold a bridge piece that is attached to the chain.

In placing the hook in the ceiling, it must be located exactly in the center of where the the ro is cut.  It must also be attached to a beam and be strong enough to hold a cast iron kettle full of water.

Because there is no gotoku in the ro for the tsurigama, often a gotoku futaoki is used to remind us of the gotoku.   This a a rather challenging pice to use, as the hishaku cup must fit within the three legs of the gotoku futaoki.  Make sure that the one of the legs is designated as the front and place on the tatami mat accordingly.

As you are using the kettle and placing the hishaku back in the kettle, it swings a little and give the feeling of a spring breeze in the tea room.  Be careful, though, if the kettle starts to twist on you.  You may have to adjust your hishaku.

In April, the sukigama is used. It is a wide flat kettle with a large wing around the middle.  The wing rests on wooden blocks that sit on the inside ledge of ro.  This lifts the kettle further out of the ro and the flange keeps the fire from the guests.

As the season gets warmer, we usually do chabako temae which lifts the kettle completely out of the ro and moves it to the center of the tatami mat that the host sits on.  This is good practice as about this time the cherries are blooming and we can do chabako out under the cherry trees for hanami.

Finally at Shoburo, the furo season begins. We normally close the ro and begin to use the furo in early May.  Here is a post with some thoughts on the timing of Shoboro.  Seasons change.


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Japanese patterns and motifs

Many tea utensils and fabrics have recurring traditional designs and motifs that you can learn to recognize.  You see them also on kimono, shifuku and kobukusa fabrics as well as on lacquer ware and in traditional sachiko stitching. Do you have utensils with these patterns? Can you recognize them?

Shippo (seven jewels)
Shippo is a series of geometric design combining four ellipses in a circle in a way that the lines inside make more circles. The name is originated from Shippo, which means precious stones in Buddhism. Because inside the circles look shiny, people started to call the pattern Shippo. Often you will see this pattern combined with flowers, and sometimes even the seven treasures are depicted.

Seigaiha
Also pronounced seikaiha. A wave design made of the arches of concentric circles superimposed upon one another so that only the upper portion of each set of circles is visible. It was used in China to depict the sea on ancient maps. In Japan it appears earliest on the clothing of a haniwa figure of a girl excavated in Gunma prefecture. Beginning in the Heian period it was used on mo, a form of shirt worn with the "twelve-layers" juunihitoe of kimono. It appears on Seto ceramic ware setoyaki and lacquerware inkstone cases of the Kamakura period. In the period Seikai Kanshichi devised a way to paint the design in black lacquer using a brush; some authorities suggest this may have been the origin of the term seigaiha to describe this design.

Asanoha / Hemp Leaf
"Asanoha (hemp leaf)" is one of the most popular Japanese traditional patterns. This pattern was named Asanoha because the shape literally looks like a hemp leaf. In spite of its name, however, the pattern did not borrow motif from a plant. It is a geometric design with six diamond-shaped patterns arranged in a radial manner. Identifying the hemp which grows well with the growth of a baby, the pattern has been often used for swaddling clothes.

Sayagata
Sayagata is a kind of geometric design with a series of fylfot (卍 Manji - key fret - swastika - Buddhist cross) patterns. Because the pattern was similar to silk fabrics brought to Japan from China which was called "Saya" in Edo Era, people started to call it Saya-gata (Saya pattern). The fylfot pattern has taken root as a map symbol which stands for Buddhist temples in Japan. It is a classical pictogram which came from the shape of Hindu God of love Vishnu’s chest hair, and it stands for a good omen and virtue.

Ikebana blog

I was fortunate enough to host a guest from Oslo, Norway for tea in my tea room in Portland this week.  We had a very nice visit and he bought a seiza seat from me.   He writes a blog about Ikebana, and I have added him to my blogs list at the left.  Please go check it out.

No Time for Tea

I've added an audio broadcast of Public Radio 360's "No Time for Tea," by Jennifer Lawton in the left hand column of this blog.  Click over and listen to the article as she describes her experience with tea ceremony in Kyoto. It's about 10 minutes long.

Dream Window

For the introduction to chado class, we viewed a video the other night called, "Dream Window, Reflections on the Japanese Garden . If you haven't had a chance to see this, please do so.  It shows a number of famous gardens with commentary by various artists, a composer, stage designer, ikebana master, poet, zen monk about how the Japanese garden has influenced each of their respective arts. It is beautifully filmed and thought provoking. 

And what discussion of Japanese gardens would be complete without talking about the tea garden and Japanese tea ceremony?   In this video, they show  part of a chakai, and one of the guests was one of my sensei when I studied in Japan, Ebina-sensei.   Sadly, she passed away more than 7 years ago, but I still have many of the notes from her teaching and lectures.  She introduced me to Japanese poetry and literature.  She was always elegant and very caring of us.

In the last lecture, Ebina-sensei said to us:

Fundamentally, who you are when you are doing tea is your true self.  Through this, you may begin to understand what is important.

Everyone needs to ask, what does tea mean to me?  If you find some meaning in tea, by all means continue.  If you find it is not for you, why pursue something that is meaningless?

We all have a different relation with tea.  Our lives change with time and tea will change with your life. Doing tea is a philosophy of life.  This study is a study of culture not just tea.  Tea is part of bigger picture of life.

It all depends on the tightness or narrowness of your heart.  The more open you are the more room in your heart.  Grounded with your heart you will see more things, and it will make you more blind to the bad conditions.  Following your heart is a plus factor to be able to see the positive.  And don't forget to listen, listen, listen...