The Art of the Tea Ceremony

So today we were all in for a wonderful splash of Japanese culture.  We were all cordially invited to a beautiful tea ceremony held in Shoin's own Tea room.  The tea ceremony is traditionally held as an act of welcoming...a show of hospitality of sorts and Shoin wanted to welcome us all.  There were many rules regarding the formalities and politeness issues...like there is a very specific way to enter into the tea room.  First of all it is disrespectful to wear jewelry or watches or anything like that. There is a small entry way with wooden floors and you MUST take off shoes and leave them outside the tea room.  Afterwards you are expected to kneel and sit with ur legs underneath you and your fan (that tradition japanese women carry) is to be placed in front of of you.  Finally you are expected to bow deeply with your hands placed in front.



Finally you are able to enter the room.  The room is a large square room with a small alcove on one side.  The floors were all covered in green tatami mats.  The alcove is purely for decorative purposes and a beautiful scroll with it written "Every day is a good day" in Japanese of course.  Also A vase with delicate looking Irises was placed below the scroll.  The Iris is a symbol of summer and therefore was the theme of today's ceremony.

First a sweet pastry was given to us to eat.  The pastry was beautiful and delicate looking.  It was also delicious and filled with red bean paste.  A small wooden hashi was given to us to eat the pastry with.  The pastry was to be eaten before the green tea was served.  The tea is prepared at the front of the room by rapidly mixing the green tea powder with hot water.  The whisk looked like a delicate long brush.  The tea was a vibrant green color.  Much more color than the usual watered down looking green Im used to seeing.  The tea was probably the most flavorful green tea I had ever tasted.  It was amazing!

Before drinking from the beautiful bowls that were passed to us we were to place the bowl on the palm of our hands and turn it slowly so that we didnt drink from the "beautiful" and decorated side of the bowl.  The first sip was to be taken slowly and thoughtfully...savoring the taste and enjoying the aroma.  Afterwards we were to drink the rest in 3 or 4 more sips. Finally a small sweet candy was passed out.  We folded a paper into fourths and placed 2 or 3 tiny colorful candies into it.  Basically tasted like rock candies haha

By now all of legs were killing us for having to sit with our legs carefully tucked underneath us.  My feet were totally asleep....worst pins nd needles feeling I had for a while!  We all left the tea room one by one, first bowing and thanking the Shoin hostesses and then stepping outside the tea room and kneeling and bowing deeply one more time.  It really was a lovely way to learn about Japanese culture.

It was pouring cats and dogs by the time we had finished.  Luckily we all had umbrellas and we all decided to brave the storm.  It was a peaceful walk despite the rain.  We all took a break but by nightfall we were all itching to get out!  Me and a few other friends decided to do Pulikura! (those asian photo booths :D)  It was actually a lot of fun haha.  We decided to end the night in a sauve little bar called Monochrome.  There were couches and lounge areas.  The drinks were pretty good too.  It was a pretty classy place!  We also stopped by one other bar...which was more like a classic American bar...bar table nd stools.  Chris had a conversation with one of the other customers, it went pretty well I'd say!

New Food of the Day:
Sweet Bean Paste Pastry

As delicious as it is beautiful.  A sweet yet not overpowering little dessert.