The esoterica of Japanese Tea Ceremony

[gurdymonkey]

The first (of hopefully many, many more) Ocha Zanmai conference on Japanese Tea Ceremony and Tea Cultures was well attended. The Humanities Auditorium at San Francisco State University was more or less full and if I had to guess that room probably seats 100 easily. Presentations included: Melissa Rinne of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco on bamboo flower baskets and tea utensils in the museum's collection. Nobu Kurashige of the Ikenobo Ikebana Society of America on tea gatherings and flower arrangements recorded in Abbot Shosho Horin's Kakumeiki during the Kanei era (1624=1644). (About a third of the way through, Kurashige-sensei's English and/or nerve failed her completely and she completed the bilingual presentation entirely in Japanese). Professor Tamaki Yano, Doshisha University, on the historical study and categorization of tea utensils as meibutsu ('named things'). (In Japanese with bilingual Powerpoint slides and handout). Professor Asao Kuzu, Tezukayama Univrsity on the evolution of Sen Rikyu's development of wabi-cha. (In Japanese with bilingual Powerpoint slides and the best lecture abstract of the bunch). I am going to have to COMPLETELY re-do my "traditions in tea" class based on his assessment of the development of wabi-cha out of a commoner tea tradition. Graduate student Yoshiyuki Miyatake, Doshisha University on calligraphic hanging scrolls catalogued in records of formal tea gatherings in rapid fire Japanese with Powerpoint slides and a handout that would have benefited greatly by the contribution of a translator with better English skills.) I regret I almost nodded off through this one several times. I blame the excellent bento lunch. Professor Jennifer Anderson, San Jose State on "Japanese Tea Ritual, Dynamic Mythology and National Identity," examining the practice from an anthropologist's point of view. Professor Jae Sup Pak, currently at UC Berkeley, on Korean Tea Ceremony. Good overview of tea in Korea (in English). I did not stay in the jam packed seminar room for the demo as it was impossible to see anything by kneeling demonstrators if one was not in the first row or two. Despite my lack of Japanese, the use of bilingual abstracts and Powerpoint made most of the presentations comprehensible. Dr. Kuzu's lecture alone was worth the trip across the bay. You bet your favorite tea bowl I had them put "Society For Creative Anachronism" on my name badge. No one sneered. Ended up having a nice chat over our bento lunches with a couple of ladies from the Bay area and an instructor from the University of Kansas. And knocked off the two tanka in the preceding entry after lunch. If yolsgaard's friend was in attendance, I never ran into him. The drive home, however, sucked greatly, by virtue of someone doing something stupid on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge which backed traffic up almost all the way to where I got on 280. I picked up James when I got back and we hit the Pasta Pomodoro in Albany for dinner.