Thursday, May 19, 2011

A long way for a bowl of matcha

After the outdoor tea ceremony, we went to the tea house for another ceremony.



This was the gate to the tea house. Doesn’t it look nice?


We went through it and headed to the house.


There was a passageway followed by the gate. It was paved with stone bricks and well-organized trees were lined like fences along the pass. I think those trees made the pass look long and calm. We went ahead the pass …


The pass had some turns and zigzags.


As we carried on, another gate appeared which was basically simple and rustic. When I passed through the gate, I was enthusiastic over some kind of expectation that something nice was waiting over there.


The passageway looked narrower here. You could find moss and steppingstones on the ground. I felt more calm and relaxed here.


After going through the passageway, we finally reached the tea house. It was not big, but primitive and very classy. I could peek at the part of the nice garden between the house and the tree fences. I was already very much excited about the ceremony that we are going into. But, I was just at the entrance and we haven’t even finished admission.


I think my excitement was generated by the long pass from the gate. The actual direct distance from the first gate to the tea house was not really that far. But, the pass was narrow, and had many turns. Moreover, the view was limited by the tree fences. The abovementioned facters made the passageway seem long, and gave me a sense of a virtual trip. The length of passageway may not be the real matter but I believe this passageway was intentionally designed this way to generate people’s expectation to the upcoming world.


I don’t exactly remember but it is sayed that passageway throught the tea house should be likened to the way and introduction to the world of tea which is supposedly isolated from daily life. At this tea house, I experineced the important role of the passageway for a tea house. Jah!

The website of tea house (Japanese) >>>
http://www.city.toki.lg.jp/wcore/hp/page000000600/hpg000000577.htm

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