Tea Ceremony in 8 Haikus

tea ceremony

enter, remove the world's dust

and enjoy your tea

kneel on tatami

listen to the tea kettle

watch the sparks and clouds

be in the moment

focus upon this time here

photograph later

each movement practiced

a ritual dance of calm

it's motion designed

beautiful objects

belongings of the future

lovingly cared for

green powder mountains

rest within a lacquer box

spoon by spoon it shrinks

black rakuware bowl

you see the imperfections

within you, wabi 

my apologies

for the quiet perception

my cough disrupted

At first the Tea ceremony seemed an adventure in time travel, to a place mostly forgotten in the pace of our culture, a retreat to a place of calm and strange juxtaposition. Where tea moved from shiny lacquer boxes to rough hand shaped bowls. The flammable paper walls and tatami mat floors held a hearth that could set the place ablaze. Careful and deliberate movements created a sense of calm and reflection. The entire experience was intensely detail-oriented in it's design from movements that moved the kimonos gracefully to the chabana that reflect the passage of time in a more appropriate way. I enjoyed a retreat from my normal reality.

But the second part, I'm sick, so about ten minutes in I felt the tickle in the back of my throat and what had been a time of thought and experience quickly dissolved into drawn out torture of trying not to cough. The quiet was the more apparent as I had nothing to muffle my cough behind. It seemed inappropriate to leave, not to mention difficult as we were closely packed, and even if I left, it had paper walls and would have accomplished little. I thought incessantly of the closet where my backpack held Robitussin but ignorant to proper etiquette about tea ceremony sick leave, I just prayed that my cough would pass. Prayed futilely. I understand that this seems silly to write about, but it's what I remember. Everyone was understanding, accommodating, but I think I missed a lot of what we were there to discover and I hope to one day get another chance to experience, sorry if I negatively affected yours. So, not my greatest Aesthetic Immersion, but they can't all be winners. The room was beautiful, our hosts knowledgeable and accomplished, and the information interesting, but the misery of sickness had a victory that day. Thank you for the tea, hope I'll see you again.

A kettle's-eye view.

In another class I'm reading the Tales of Genji so our teacher asked Ginny Dofflemeyer, a professor I've had twice before, to give a presentation that I found very enlightening as to the development of on Japanese aesthetic. In many pieces and within the concept of wabi-sabi there is an appreciation of asymmetry in the works. Early Japanese designs and layouts of cities and sites were often greatly influenced by the symmetrical designs found in China. Japan though is a very hilly environment which made such plans often time difficult to construct, especially for places such as monasteries, which by earlier edict had been required to be at the edges of towns and cities. More frequently in places where large symmetrical enclosures were impossible, smaller structures were created in multiple level spaces. Paths lead from building to building which created a flow, allowing experimentation with experience and asymmetrical spaces. As you follow a path, what do you see at each place, how do you control the next vista? Just one way Japan developed unique style from China.