Chado: The Way of Tea in Oregon

Tim McRobert produced a half hour documentary about Chado: The Way of Tea in Oregon. It will be broadcast on Oregon Public Broadcasting cable this Sunday. It was shot at the Portland Japanese Garden and various tea rooms around the Portland area.
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Issoan Tea School is one of the groups featured in the film.You will see students making tea, kimono dressing and ceramics discussion on the film. I hope you enjoy it.

It airs Sunday, September 2 at 8:30 on OPB plus.  For those of you on FIOS Frontier it's channel 470 and those on Comcast I think  it is on 310.  Check your local listings. 

Workshops for Tea Ceremony

Thursday, October 4, 2012 - 6:00pm :
Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons - Nature, Literature, and the Arts, (click link for more information)
Portland State University
We plan to dress in kimono, attend the lecture and have a snack afterwards.  Please join us.







Saturday October 6th, 10 am to 2 pm 
Kimono alterations class 
Issoan Tea Room
Kimono too short?  Not wide enough?  Kate has been successful in altering kimono to fit differnt body shapes. Bring your kimono to work on.  She will teach us how to measure for kimono, where to add length, how to widen side seams and much more.   We  will also learn proper fitting and kimono dressing.  Please join us.  Call Margie to register 503-645-7058


Saturday October 13, 10 am - 2 pm 
Field trip to the Bamboo Gardens
North Plains
We will meet at Issoan Tea School and carpool to Bamboo Gardens where we will tour the garden, learn about bamboo cultivation, and how to work the bamboo for crafts.  This will be  good in preparation for chashaku carving and flower vase making workshop later this year..  For reservations and carpool information, call Margie 503-645-7058


Sunday October 14th, 10 am
Completion of Kimono alterations class
Kate 's house 
After homework assignment, we will complete our kimono alterations. (bring sewing machine if you have one).  If there is interest, we may have ongoing sewing workshops including sewing a kimono from scratch, shifuku making workshop and making bags for chabako.  Please call Margie to register.  503-645-7058

More workshops to come

O-Tsukimi at the Portland Japanese Garden

The Autumn Moonviewing Festival, O-Tsukimi, will be held at the Portland Japanese Garden September 28, 29, 30th from 6- 8:30 pm.

On a quiet autumn evening more than 200 years ago, a retired imperial prince sat patiently on the polished bamboo floor of the veranda waiting for the moon’s reflection to shimmer across the pond of one of the world’s most exquisite gardens at Katsura Imperial Villa in western Kyoto. As it rose in the sky, he lifted his sake cup to catch its reflection and bring him good luck in love—something even emperors need.
Here in Portland, we have a place patterned after just such a garden, where people gather to sit and wait for that very same moon to raise high in the evening sky in autumn.

There is no better place in Portland to share the romance and mystery of the full moon in autumn than from the eastern courtyard of the Portland Japanese Garden Pavilion, with cup of sake in hand, gazing at the harvest moon as it rises above the city.
 
Moonviewing, or O-Tsukimi, is a traditional Japanese festival which honors the full moon in autumn. On the evenings of September 28, 29, and 30, guests enjoy a quiet evening in the Garden, observe a candle-lit tea ceremony in the Kashintei Tea House and listen to the elegant live music.

Poetry reading and writing have been part of traditional moonviewing events in Japan for centuries. Guests are invited to write their own poetry in honor of the autumn moon and listen to poetry readings in the Garden Pavilion. Sip sake or tea, enjoy a light sampling of seasonal Japanese foods, and experience a rare walk through the lantern-lit Garden during moonlit hours.

Issoan Tea will be presenting Tea Ceremony at Kashintei Tea House on Saturday, September 29.

September 28, 29, and 30, 2012
6:00-8:30 p.m., rain or shine
$25 members / $35 non-members
Reservations required; Space is limited

Reserve online or call (503) 542-0280

Kobukusa Magic

We had a kobukusa making workshop a couple of weeks ago, and I promised that I'd post pictures from the workshop.  We had 4 participants, and Kate was our teacher.  She supplied silk fabric, silk thread, needles, patterns, instructions and sewing advice and help.

Everyone who had brought their sewing kits, supplies and eagerness to learn.

We started with the fabric, pattern and instructions:

Measured and pinned:

Stitched: 

Pressed:

Turned with a little bit of kobukusa magic we had a finished product.

Working together

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge one of my huge supporters, Barbara Walker.  Barbara and I have shared our love for the way of tea  for more than 30 years. She and I studied with Minako sensei for 20 years, before she passed away. We help each other with Chado presentations, classes and she is my substitute teacher when I am out of town. And she is an excellent Shokyaku. 

Working with Barbara is like having someone who can read my mind.  I'll tell you a story:   We put on a chakai for Minako-sensei's seven year memorial.   The first seki was supposed to be at 10:00. We were going to meet at 8:00 am to prepare the tea house.  Barbara was bringing most of the special utensils we had picked for the occasion.  She also was bringing the sweets.

I arrived at the Japanese Garden tea house a little after 8:00 am and started cleaning.  I put on the hot water, swept, mopped and wiped down the mats. 8:30 no Barbara.   I hung the scroll and arranged the flowers.  I put out the tsukubai and watered the garden.  9:00, still no Barbara.  I unpacked the furo, and filled the kettle with hot water, 9:15 and no Barbara.  I wiped down the koshikake machiai.  Guests were due to arrive in 20 minutes.

Finally at 9:30 Barbara arrived with the utensils and the sweets.  The two of us got to work unpacking, arranging, filling,  preparing and had everything else ready for the chakai in time to greet our first guests.  Not a word was spoken  between the time she arrived and the final "Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu"  before she opened the door to the tea house and stepped into the garden.


This wonderful lady with a true tea heart, donated to Issoan Tea School kaiseki dogu that had previously  belonged to Minako-sensei.   She wanted my students to be able to use these things and pass on to them some part of Minako-sensei.   Thank you Barbara, we all appreciate everything you do.  We will use these things and think of both you and Minako-sensei.  She would be proud to know how well we work together and support each other.

Yuto and ladle for the burnt rice course

Two black lacquer serving trays

Cedar hassun tray for serving food from the mountain and food from the sea.

Unlacquered hana ita, flower board for unglazed vases in the tokonoma.