...I miss you

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 

I really don’t look asian. My skin is Texas tan, my hair is medium brown, my eyes are hazel (like my mom’s) I have curves (more than I would like, despite all the exercise Joy makes me do, sigh!) But people usually says they can see it once I tell them.  So I am hoping that is the reason why people keeps staring at me.

 

Naka...Hatori-sempai disappeared after we came inside to go get ready for the tea ceremony. I have been greeting and making boring-small talk with all of the guest (I am running really quickly of topics) and my dad is nowhere to be seen

 

I reach out for another small glass of hot sake, it is snowing outside and despite I am wearing so many layers the cold air find a way to my skin. The burning sensation in my throat warms my insides up and helps with the determination I am going to have to stay on my knees for really longs periods of time.

 

The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice... yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible. This is why I have always been bad at it.

Suddenly there is the sound of a gong and two girls dressed in gray kimonos come out from a room to the left and a couple of guest follow them. In Japan do as Japanese do.

So the tea ceremony begins.

Only six other people leave the room, the rest of the guest wait for us at the main house. The tea ceremony attendants have to purify themselves by washing their hands and rinsing their mouths from a small stone basin of water right outside the room we have been waiting on. After that we proceed through a simple but beautiful garden along a Roji (dewy path) to the tea house. We remove our shoes and enter the tea house through a small door (it truly is a small door, maybe 3 by 3) and proceed to the Tokonoma  ( just a small alcove) where we admire the scrolls, that depict messages related to the ceremony, hanging on the walls and a couple of simple but extremely beautiful bases (I have a thing for bases!)

After a few minutes everyone begins to take their places (sitting seiza style) Once everyone is sit I go ahead and close the door loudly to let Hatori-senpai know we are ready and go sit at the very end (the guest are supposed to sit in order by prestige) gaining myself  a couple of approval nods from the guest.

Hatori-senpai appears kneeling down after opening a sliding door in our left side. He is wearing a gray Hakama and a Black Haori. He looks good! He carries a small closed fan in his hands and places it in front of himself making a formal statements of thanks and respect. He bows down and we do as well, then he turns back to close the door again and comes to the middle of the room with a Sumitori (a tray where he carries what he needs for the first part)

He begins the tea ceremony with the placement of the Hai (ashes). There is small hole to his left and our right where the ashes, and hot coals will go, followed by a Tetsubin

Once he is done, we are served a light, simple meal called a Kaiseki  followed by warm Sake. After that we return to the waiting room where we are offer more sake and until half an hour later we are summoned again by the host. Hatori-sempai.

Inside the tea house we proceed to take our sits and I am waiting for everyone to do so when one of the girls in gray holds me by the arm and takes to the sit ahead of everyone. I sigh. My dad is not going to make it.

Now the scrolls have been removed and have been replaced with Chabana (Japanese tea flower arrangements) to create a more relaxed atmosphere. A couple of minutes later he comes back with a small box called Chabako full with the Chadogu, utensil that he will use. Ceremoniously he puts a white folded Kamashiki and puts the Tetsubi (a black clay pot with two handles, that has been warming up the water) in top of it. With a Haboki, a feather broom that was on his box, he cleans the edges of the hole and later proceeds to put into the white charcoals, incense powder. The room begins to smell wonderful, he cleans the edges again with the feather, puts the clay pot back and takes the handles off. He leaves the room again taking everything with him.

A couple of minutes later he comes back with a tray with small sweets that are eaten from special paper called kaishi.

Once we are done eating. Each utensil—including the tea bowl (chawan), whisk (chasen), and tea scoop (chashaku)—is then ritually cleansed in a precise order and using prescribed motions.

As the ceremony continues I find myself surprising and increasingly nervous. The utensils are placed in an exact arrangement. When the ritual cleaning and preparation of the utensils is complete, He places a measured amount of green tea powder in the bowl and adds the appropriate amount of hot water, then whisk the tea using set movements. Is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

I ask Hatori a couple of questions regarding the utensils and he replies back politely but avoids looking to my face. Conversation is kept to a minimum throughout. We are supposed to relax and enjoy the atmosphere created by the sounds of the water and fire, the smell of the incense and tea, and the beauty and simplicity of the tea house and its seasonally appropriate decorations. And they definitely enjoyable! But I am ecstatic! The only other tea ceremony I have been too I was the host and I was being graded (and i made many many mistakes) This time is different, I get to appreciate the delicate equilibrium in everything he does, the perfect balance that he maintains between him and the chadogu. His rough manly hands working so delicately. It’s hypnotizing, mesmerizing!

The bowl is then served to the Shokyaku, the guest of honor. Me! Bows are exchanged between us and our eyes finally meet and lock on each other. I place the the tea bowl between me and the second guest and bow to him. After that without taking my eyes from him I raise the bowl in a gesture of respect to the host. I rotate the bowl to avoid drinking from its front, take a sip, murmur “I accept it humbly” and then take three more sips before wiping the rim, rotating the bowl to its original position, and passing it to the next guest with a bow. The procedure is repeated until all guests have taken tea from the same bowl, and the bowl is returned to him. He then leaves the room and returns with the sumitori.

Thick tea, koicha, has been served. Hatori now rekindles the fire and adds more charcoal. This signifies a change from the more formal portion of the gathering to the more casual. Now he will prepare an individual bowl of thin tea, Usucha, to be served to each guest in the same manner. Our eyes meet again. I understand now what Akane-san meant when she said that after tonight I would be able to call him by his name. There is something so personal between the tea maker and his guest that going back to Nakamura-san will be now impossible.  

As he leaves again to return with more confections, Higashi, to accompany the thin tea, and cushions for our comfort, the guest and I now engage in casual conversation. I realize now that my father is here. I try to rise to go greet him but he hold his hand up smiling. His eyes are shining, he is so proud of Hatori, I look around and see the same happy expression in everyone else.   

After all of us have taken tea, Hatori cleans the utensils in preparation for putting them away. In my father’s name I have to request that he allow the guests to examine the utensils, and each guest in turn examines and admires each item, including the water scoop, the tea caddy, the tea scoop, the tea whisk, and, most importantly, the tea bowl. The items are treated with extreme care and reverence as they are priceless, irreplaceable, handmade antiques, and we have to use a special brocaded cloth to handle them.

Hatori then collects the utensils, and we leave the tea house. He bows from the door, and the ceremony is over.