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Tea Ceremony As Museum Piece
Jul. 16th, 2011 06:36 pmTea is nought but this: first you heat the water, then you make the tea. Then you drink it properly. That is all you need to know. - Sen Rikyu
This is the only photo I took and that was after the ceremony concluded. The ceremony performed was in memory of the late Peg Anderson, who studied Mushanokojisenke and Zen in the Bay area until her passing in 2000. (I have a handout with her bio on it. Of course it does NOT include the name of the American tea master who is currently the only one teaching on the West Coast and who narrated some of the proceedings this afternoon. Nor is his name on the canned hand-out of cursory Way of Tea info that the museum apparently uses for all its Cha-do presentations.* And I was not going to break my attempt to shed the outside world by fumbling for a pen!)
(*Which, BTW, looks like a bad fourth-generation photocopy of a photocopy.)
I arrived for the 1:00PM presentation at 12:50, having been enjoying other exhibits until then. There were no seats - until the museum people started asking for tickets and suddenly a couple of people who didn't know they had to have tickets gave up said seats. (They could stand behind the seats and watch without a ticket, they just couldn't have tea.) I ended up at the far right of the tea house alcove next to a tiny Japanese grandmotherly lady in a puffy coat. Much of my view was obstructed by a man's head and a video screen which was supposed to facilitate observation of preparation of tea.
The gentleman at the mike is currently the only Mushanokojisenke master teaching on the West Coast and he said there are a handful on the East Coast, which perhaps explains why it is not as well known in the states as the Urasenke and Omotesenke traditions. (For those not up on The Way of Tea, it was codified in the 16th century by Sen Rikyu. The three schools were founded by three of his grandsons.)
I fear my limited experience with tea ceremony (and my seat in the second row at the far right) did not allow me to discern any great differences between Mushanokojisenke and other schools of tea, though the gentleman preparing tea for his guests did so in such a relaxed and natural manner that nothing seemed stiff or choreographed. This despite extremely close quarters which required him to back out the door to get things from the area behind the tea house.
The setting was simple, the utensils likewise, as far as I could see from where I sat. (It was mentioned that they had belonged to the late Ms. Anderson.) I was quite taken with the hanging scroll, depicting three rocks in calm water, or perhaps in a Zen garden.
The first bowl was mixed in the robin's egg blue bowl you see placed as an offering for the lady in whose honor they dedicated this ceremony in the tokonoma by a woman in the robes and kesa of a Buddhist monk. Yokan (sweet jellies) and then individual bowls of fragrant, grassy usucha (thin tea) was served to those of us in the cheap seats by assistants in pretty summer kimono, while the host prepared two more bowls and served the First (Urasenke teacher kimono or "ringer" who knew what to do) and Second (volunteer from the audience) Guests.
Tea ceremony conducted on a four mat "stage" while 20 people sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs, can't observe the preparation of tea beyond the first row, hear what First Guest says to Second Guest unless a host with a mike provides a play by play, or admire the utensils chosen specially for the occasion is, well, not really what a tea experience can be. It's not that our hosts were not congenial, or that the tea was not good, but that the nature of tea-ceremony-as-educational-program inevitably creates a distance from the moment that shouldn't be there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asianartmuseum/sets/72157625406262624/ shows some photos from the museum's photo pool of a previous tea demonstration. It should give you an idea of the layout.
Lessons are just not in this writer's budget and I confess my studies have been limited to what I have been able to read and those tea events I have been able to attend. What I understand, I understand imperfectly.
This past Estrella, Yaygu-dono and Li-dono insisted on escorting me back to my camp. It being a cold night and a long walk, I then insisted they make themselves comfortable on my "veranda" while I put some water on the stove and put some sencha into the strainer of my teapot. It wasn't ceremonial tea, but I had what I needed to make my guests welcome. I know I refilled the teapot at least once as we sat talking and drinking tea quietly under the desert stars. I hope Sen Rykyu would have understood.
This is the only photo I took and that was after the ceremony concluded. The ceremony performed was in memory of the late Peg Anderson, who studied Mushanokojisenke and Zen in the Bay area until her passing in 2000. (I have a handout with her bio on it. Of course it does NOT include the name of the American tea master who is currently the only one teaching on the West Coast and who narrated some of the proceedings this afternoon. Nor is his name on the canned hand-out of cursory Way of Tea info that the museum apparently uses for all its Cha-do presentations.* And I was not going to break my attempt to shed the outside world by fumbling for a pen!)
(*Which, BTW, looks like a bad fourth-generation photocopy of a photocopy.)
I arrived for the 1:00PM presentation at 12:50, having been enjoying other exhibits until then. There were no seats - until the museum people started asking for tickets and suddenly a couple of people who didn't know they had to have tickets gave up said seats. (They could stand behind the seats and watch without a ticket, they just couldn't have tea.) I ended up at the far right of the tea house alcove next to a tiny Japanese grandmotherly lady in a puffy coat. Much of my view was obstructed by a man's head and a video screen which was supposed to facilitate observation of preparation of tea.
The gentleman at the mike is currently the only Mushanokojisenke master teaching on the West Coast and he said there are a handful on the East Coast, which perhaps explains why it is not as well known in the states as the Urasenke and Omotesenke traditions. (For those not up on The Way of Tea, it was codified in the 16th century by Sen Rikyu. The three schools were founded by three of his grandsons.)
I fear my limited experience with tea ceremony (and my seat in the second row at the far right) did not allow me to discern any great differences between Mushanokojisenke and other schools of tea, though the gentleman preparing tea for his guests did so in such a relaxed and natural manner that nothing seemed stiff or choreographed. This despite extremely close quarters which required him to back out the door to get things from the area behind the tea house.
The setting was simple, the utensils likewise, as far as I could see from where I sat. (It was mentioned that they had belonged to the late Ms. Anderson.) I was quite taken with the hanging scroll, depicting three rocks in calm water, or perhaps in a Zen garden.
The first bowl was mixed in the robin's egg blue bowl you see placed as an offering for the lady in whose honor they dedicated this ceremony in the tokonoma by a woman in the robes and kesa of a Buddhist monk. Yokan (sweet jellies) and then individual bowls of fragrant, grassy usucha (thin tea) was served to those of us in the cheap seats by assistants in pretty summer kimono, while the host prepared two more bowls and served the First (Urasenke teacher kimono or "ringer" who knew what to do) and Second (volunteer from the audience) Guests.
Tea ceremony conducted on a four mat "stage" while 20 people sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs, can't observe the preparation of tea beyond the first row, hear what First Guest says to Second Guest unless a host with a mike provides a play by play, or admire the utensils chosen specially for the occasion is, well, not really what a tea experience can be. It's not that our hosts were not congenial, or that the tea was not good, but that the nature of tea-ceremony-as-educational-program inevitably creates a distance from the moment that shouldn't be there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asianartmuseum/sets/72157625406262624/ shows some photos from the museum's photo pool of a previous tea demonstration. It should give you an idea of the layout.
Lessons are just not in this writer's budget and I confess my studies have been limited to what I have been able to read and those tea events I have been able to attend. What I understand, I understand imperfectly.
This past Estrella, Yaygu-dono and Li-dono insisted on escorting me back to my camp. It being a cold night and a long walk, I then insisted they make themselves comfortable on my "veranda" while I put some water on the stove and put some sencha into the strainer of my teapot. It wasn't ceremonial tea, but I had what I needed to make my guests welcome. I know I refilled the teapot at least once as we sat talking and drinking tea quietly under the desert stars. I hope Sen Rykyu would have understood.
