September 14, 2008

the Japanese tea ceremony preparation steps

For a student of the Japanese tea ceremony it might take years of practice to learn how to prepare a bowl of tea without thinking. The goal is to serve a bowl of tea from the heart and not from the mind. This is only possible when practicing at least once a week but preferably a couple of times a week. There are quite a few steps one has to go through to be able to serve a bowl of tea to the guests. Here's a link to the start page of the Japanese tea ceremony preparation steps. For a more detailed description of all the steps needed to prepare a bowl of tea: detailed steps for the Japanese tea ceremony. this page will provide you with many details for every step toward serving a bowl of tea. At this moment there is only a description for hakobi temae during the summer season where the Furo is used. soon this website will be updated with descriptions of hakobi temae during the winter season where the Ro or sunken hearth is used.
If you are looking for some more visual inspiration, have a look at some videos of the Japanese tea ceremony

I have been practicing for some years now but due to circumstances I have not been able to attend my tea ceremony classes every month. This results in a quite clumsy preparation of the tea, since I really have to use my head and think hard about the next step I have to perform. But the website with detailed explanations of the preparation steps really helps when I read it just before going to my tea ceremony class.

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