As we walk in, several ladies are already sitting on the raised platform, dressed in traditional kimonos. They gesture us to the seats around the room. However, I'm the first of several who are asked if we would like to sit on the platform on the tatami mats already placed there. I get the impression that I was the first asked because I'm the second-youngest person on the tour. In any event, I decide I might as well go for it, so I agree.
The lady who I'm assuming is in charge starts explaining things, such as the proper interactions between the guests and hosts during the ceremony. For example, after the host prepares the tea, she places the cup facing towards you. You both bow to each other. Now, assuming there is a large number of you participating in the ceremony, it is perfectly fine to begin drinking your tea before everyone is served. However, to be polite, you turn to the person to your left, make a small bow from the seated position, and say "osaki ni", which roughly translates into "I'm going before". That person returns the bow, which effectively is acknowledging the politeness and responding that you are welcome to proceed before they are served. It is politeness back, because this tea is meant to be drunk while hot.
Once you've received permission from your neighbor, you bow again to the host, and you say "ita daki mas". This one doesn't have a translation that I can conveniently explain. It is said before meals for a large number of Japanese. It is meant to express gratitude for whomever prepared the food, although you can still say it if you're eating alone and made the food yourself. From a situational perspective, about the closest I've been able to think of would be if we said "It looks good, and let's eat!" just before digging in.
You then take the cup in your right hand, with the hand placed on the side of the cup. Your left hand goes underneath the cup. You rotate the bowl about a quarter turn clockwise. The hostess explained that there are slight variations on the direction of the turn for certain parts of the country, but generally it's clockwise. The purpose of the turn is to show your humility and/or politeness by refusing to sully the front of the cup, which is traditionally the most decorated part of the cup, with your mouth.
You can now enjoy the tea. I have to admit I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the tea. It's a powdered tea, different from leaf tea for everyday consumption, and it's specially cultivated for tea ceremonies. It was very good, and most everyone in the tour group agreed. But I want to point out that even the way the powder is kept in that little red container you can barely see to might right is something of an art. it is stored in a mound meant to represent a mountain. This was explained to us as one was being passed around as an explanation for why they didn't want us to shake the container. As the ceremony is performed, the hostess scoops out little portions from the side of the mound to represent a valley. Symbolism is everything here.
As you get to the end of the tea, you can slightly slurp the last drops from the cup, not too loud mind you, to show your appreciation for the tea. When I did this, since I was the first one served, it got a laugh out of everyone since I had remembered to do it. After you finish the tea, you take time to admire the cup. Generally speaking, the cups used during the tea ceremony will be a host's best set, and some of these sets could be museum pieces as artwork. And they are artwork. The host pays you a compliment or politeness by offering their best tea set for your use. You return the compliment and politeness by taking the time to admire the beauty of the piece you've been offered.
After you're done admiring the cup, you place it back in front of you, with the front of the cup facing the host or hostess. You bow to each other again, and you say "gochi so sama". This is another one that I don't have a direct translation for, but you essentially are thanking your host for their hospitality and complimenting the tea. As it was explained to us, this is another phrase you can use pretty much any time you finish a meal in Japan, as it would be considered appropriate in most any occasion.
There was a bit of humor during the explanation of this, before we actually did it. When most of the tour group realized that participating meant they would at least have to attempt several Japanese phrases, their eyes went a bit wide. However, as the lady was describing the first phrase, "osaki ni", the male host walked around the room with a placard of the phrase. Everyone got a kick out of that. They also distributed cards with all three phrases. Even I was thankful for that. I was somewhat familiar with two of the phrases, but the third one was new to me.
Eventually the tea ceremony portion ended, and we moved on to two other traditional areas, a kimono-fitting and calligraphy. There really wasn't much in the way of explanation to this one, although one lady demonstrated calligraphy. This lady has been practicing calligraphy for 40 years, and it was her area of study in school. They explained to us that there are two types of calligraphy, functional and artistic. Functional calligraphy is for every day use, with emphasis on making sure people can read what you write. Artistic calligraphy gets more into the art form and how the artist wants to portray the symbols. This was artistic calligraphy.
We had the chance to practice our own calligraphy. Unfortunately, my piece is currently with one of my tour mates because we ended up splitting into groups later in the afternoon and I had no way to protect my piece from the rain at the time. I don't have a picture of it right now, but I should have it later.
The last item for our visit here was a kimono fitting. This was the part with the least explanation, and it consisted primarily of us trying to stay out of our hostess' way while they garbed us in layers. With that in mind, I won't try to explain it and just show you the end result.
It was all fun, but unfortunately it was eventually time to leave. As we walked out to the bus, ladies and gentleman saw us out and waved us off.
Overall, the learning was interesting, but they made it fun. If I ever come back to Japan, I already know I'll be visiting these people again.
Wow, that took more time than I thought, and I have to get ready for the day. I still have to talk about the rest of Day 2, including Asukasa Temple and the neko cafe. Hopefully I can catch up later, but today we're going Kamakura, Hakone, and hopefully seeing Mt. Fuji, depending on the weather. In the mean time, I leave you with these.
Ja ne! (Later!)
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