Obonfest at Oregon Buddhist Temple

Obon is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives.

Traditionally, lanterns are hung in front of houses to guide the ancestors' spirits, obon dances (bon odori) are performed, graves are visited and food offerings are made at house altars and temples. 

At the end of Obon, floating lanterns are put into rivers, lakes and seas in order to guide the spirits back into their world. The customs followed vary strongly from region to region. 

Oregon Buddhist Temple will be celebrating Obon on Saturday August 4, 2012.  The program gets underway at 3:00 pm until 9:pm.  Obondori dancing starts at approximately 6:30. Admission is free.

Location: 3720 SE 34th Ave, Portland, OR 97202

Join us for food, gifts, entertainment and dancing. This year's Obonfest features -- 
Food items: yakisoba, yakiniku, yakitori, shave ice, manju, chirashi sushi, beer garden, soft drinks, Spam musubi

Program: Tanuki Taiko, Portland Taiko*, Martial Arts Demonstration, Temple Talks, Bon Odori (public dance)

Vendors: Michiko Selby (Oshie art using chiyogami paper), Miwa McCree (massage), Kaori Oya (Shiatsu massage), Hiroshi Ogawa (Japanese Pottery), Margie Yap from Sweet Persimmon (handmade purses and meditation products), Karen Fullerton (notecards and art), Kinokuniya Bookstore (Japanese books, music, misc items) Others: Omiyage shop, T-shirt sale, children's corner, raffle

I will be there with a booth to sell handbags, meditation seats, incense, matcha, and basic tea ceremony utensils. And I tell you, the spam musubi can't be beat.

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.

From the archives

Today is my 400th post and to celebrate, (ha) I went back to read all the entries from the beginning. I am linking to some of my favorite posts, in no particular order.   What is your favorite post on the site?

Guest ettiquette for chakai

Hataraki - working things out

Thoughts on gomei or poetic names
 
Do Gaku Jitsu

The season for udon

Its not about perfection

Dogu, more tea stuff

Sitting seiza is not comfortable

Easy Daifukumochi tea sweet recipe

Just say "hai"

Basically anything that I wrote with the phrase "sensei says"

In memory of Minako sensei


Take a left before you get to the Buddha


The host revealed

The danger of cutting flowers

Wagashi for foodies

 The power of committment

Expert Tea Master

New reading material

I just want to call your attention to a few new (at least new to me) publications of interest to fellow Chado students, and they are in English.  You can find these along with other recommended books at the Issoan Tea Site.

NEW! Sen Genshitsu Talks About the Enjoyment Of Tea by Sen Genshitsu, Urasenke Grand Tea Master XV, Translated to English by Maya Perry
ISBN-10: 4473032965 Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-4473032966

Fifteenth Generation Urassenke Grand Master talks about memorable tea gatherings, guest and host, the lineage of Rikyu, the spirit of hospitality, tea equipment, and becoming better at doing tea among many other topics.  Notable for the English translation of the hundred poems at the back of the book.




NEW! Urasenke Chado Textbook, translated to English based on the Japanese textbook, Urasenke Chado
ISBN-10: 4473036960 Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-4473036964

Replacement for Uransenke Handbooks 1 and 2.  A much more informational book with less emphasis on actual teaching and photos of procedures.  Topics include:  the spirit of Chado, Zen, Classics related to Chado, tea and health, history and development of Chado, the tea room, the roji, utensils and the significance of temae. Reference material at the back of the book.



NEW! Moon by the Window, The Calligraphy and Zen Insights of Shodo Harada
ISBN 9780861716487 Paperback

Shodo Harada is internationally recognized both as a Zen teacher and as a world class master of the fine art of Zen calligraphy.  Harada regularly exhibits and gives calligraphy demonstrations in museums and universities in the U.S. and abroad.  Moon by the Window is a collection of 108 pieces of Shodo Harada's calligraphic Zen masterpieces assembled over the decades, and drawn from the rich and poetic literature of the Zen tradition.  Each work is accompanied by Harada Roshi's sharp and glittering commentaries, making each page a spiritually edifying and aesthetically uplifting  treasure.