My Kimono Life 9: Teaching Tea

This last week, I was able to wear my kimono to work! Of course I can’t normally do this. Very few people would be comfortable if their “native English-speaker” teacher wore kimono everyday. But today, I happened to be holding a tea ceremony in English for the children. Earlier in the year, I held a Western-style tea party where we used napkins and silverware and drank various types of French tea. (I love you Mariage Frères!) So, because of this and the fact I happened to be trained in Japanese tea, I wanted to do this too.

In the morning, I introduced the name of the tea utensils in English and talked about the popularity of Tea even in America. My students were quite interested and I spent nearly an hour just talking to them about it. Then it was time to study reading and writing as is customary, after which we took lunch together. So it was only after lunch that the tea ceremony truly began.

Thinking it was more interesting and instructive for the students to be both host and guest, I divided the students into two groups and let them sit at the brazier manipulating the utensils (only one got damaged!) and make tea for their classmates. Although the tea was a little bitter by my opinion, all of the students drank it and only one confessed she didn’t like it.

In the end, I felt it was a really good experience for the students. Most of my students are only 6 or 7 years old, but they handled the utensils with diligence, cleanly sifted the matcha tea before class started, and even washed all the utensils after without me even asking. Of course I winced when I realized they were washing the bamboo chashaku in water (it should be just wiped clean with a tissue), but I really appreciated the spirit of the gesture. Furthermore, this tea ceremony not only demonstrated how they might explain Japanese concepts and traditions in English, but also gave them an opportunity to use formal English in a natural setting. Using formal English naturally is not only a means to gain respect in the right situation but is also a part of the true beauty of the English language. Neglecting to teach beautiful language to students in the name of simplicity is to them off from the real meaning of communication.

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My Kimono Life 7: Tea Kimono

My kitsuke was bad today

Today, I am wearing an iromuji kimono, in other words, a kimono that is all one colour without any designs. It is a bit more formal than an everyday kimono, but without the gaudiness of the similar homongi-style kimono. In modern times, iromuji are usually worn for tea ceremonies. I can’t recall ever seeing an iromuji kimono in a pre-war photograph so iromuji are possibly a “modern” style, but my knowledge of pre-war kimono fashions is far from comprehensive.

The Mokkou Crest, 木瓜

This kimono is a nice heavy silk, but comparatively new. It has one crest–a mokkou–on the back. The mokkou is said to be an image of the cross section of a cucumber and is often used as a kazari-mon, that is not a specific family’s crest but just a crest anyone can use. Interestingly, this crest is printed rather than dyed, which to me indicates a bit of cost-cutting on the corners of whoever had this kimono made. Despite this, it is really quite comfortable to wear. I am quite certain this kimono was made for tea ceremony, not only for the reasons above, but also because I found a kaishi-paper with the remains of a tea sweet still smeared on it in the sleeve when I bought it.Fortunately, tea sweets are made of rice and adzuki beans, both of which do not spoil.
With this kimono, I have on one of my favourite obi, both for its comfort and ability to match just about anything. The obi is made of rough woven cotton and embroidered with flowers in pink, blue, and green. I paired it with a pink obi-age (scarf) and obi-jime (cord).

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A Cup of Tea 1

Butterbur sweets and matcha tea

A close up the sweets. They are made to look like butterbur (蕗ふき). They were really tasty.

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Kobudo

Japanese martial arts are all based on historical practices, but in keeping up with the times, most have been modified and standardized. This is likely necessary in order to popularize the martial art and keep it from being discarded as irrelevant and boring in this modern age. However, some people feel a lot is lost in this modernization process.

For example, in yabusame (traditional horseback archery), there are two kinds of events: tournaments and hounou (demonstrations held at shrines). Hounou are traditional events, while tounaments are newer events, treating yabusame as a “sport”. For now they are existing side by side. Recently there has been talk about standardizing and making universal ranks for yabusame. This would make yabusame more like a sport, making it easier to popularize. But many people are also against this. With standardization, yabusame would lose the variety and practicality that give it its meaning.

Martial arts that haven’t been modernized are referred to as Kobudo, or ancient martial arts. Today, I had the fortune witness the practice of a kobudo. Actually, this is a rather rare opportunity. Following more traditional customs, kobudo is a rather closed circle and isn’t eager to share with strangers.

I am not well versed in martial arts, and neither is it my place, so I can’t write much about the actually practices, but I do think the surrounding cultural practices are interesting. I think that these sorts of traditions are followed quite strictly in kobudo, but they are true in most Japanese arts, such as tea ceremony and dance.

For example, I of course could not just show up. Rather it was through the introduction of friend–one of the teacher’s senior students. Basically, my friend is vouching for my good intent. If I do something rude, it would also reflect badly upon my friend.

I also brought a small gift along, as a token of goodwill. This is fairly standard in tea ceremony and other cultural activities, but I was surprised because the teacher also gave me a gift in return. Doing so, he explained that a gift must always be returned with one, although in modern times often people forget this.

Something else I thought was interesting is that one of the students told me that practicing kata is the same as practicing tea. While kobudo seems much more difficult to me than tea ceremony, I can see how this could be so: they are both the small variations of many movements practiced over again until it fits your body naturally.

And lest you think kobudo sounds unfriendly, it wasn’t that way at all. While everyone was serious in their practice, several of the students came up to talk to me (several in English!) and the teacher explained many things to me as well.

Anyway, I thought today was quite interesting, and I could reflect on many things.

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