Opening the Winter Hearth

Each year we celebrate at the Japanese Tea Room, where I go weekly for my Lessons in the Japanese Way of Tea,  the Opening of the Winter Hearth.  This is a very beautiful, serene experience, where we appreciate the shift in the seasons and come together to share a Cup of Tea.The Winter Hearth is sunk in the floor, whereas the one used in summer is set on the tatami mat in a big ceramic bowl.

Traditionally, Sensei, the Tea Master, is the host and all the students are his guests.  It is therefore highly symbolic too of the relationship between teacher and student.  This time was no exception and we were able to watch how gracefully and graciously Sensei creates such a cosy and relaxed atmosphere, while still maintaining the decorum and etiquette of the Way of Tea.  As with all masters of whatever field they are in, it is imbued with effortless efffort, all the complicated moves just flow one to the next.

Before we started we waited in the ante room together.  All the Japanese Ladies were like Autumn coloured butterflies in kimono of muted tones, apporpriate for the season, and  set off nicely from the dark coloured kimono that the men wear.Once we entered the Tea Room, enlarged to accommodate us all, Peter, who has studied the Way of Tea here for well over 20 years, maybe even 25 now, arranged the flowers beneath the scroll.  Again, it looks so easy to plonk three long thin leaves and a flower in a vase, which simply shows how well he did it.  Sensei then lay out the charcoal in the sunken hearth before we were all served the sweet, made that morning by Sensei's delightful wife, Miho-San.  This is served in a little lacquer cup-shaped bowl with a lid, on a flat plate.  It's delicious: almost soup-like in consisency it is made from aduki beans which are pureed through a sieve before being sweetened.  It's served warm with whole chestnuts sunk in the bottom.

The temae, or procedure, Sensei chose for making the Tea, was one for a small room with the utensils set on the opposite side of the hearth than we normally do.  I'm glad I observed carefully because Sensei has decided that this is the temae which we will be studying for the next six months.

As I sat in the Tea Room, out to my left I could observe how the serene Tea Garden was also retreating into its winter lair, a few delicate leaves remain on the miniature acer, and a lone bird came to see what's what.  The Tea Garden has such a feeling of peace and tranquillity in it echoing that in the Tea Room.  Yes, and now that feeling is retreating into every pore of my own body too.