2014.2.6

It was very cold today.

I went to tea lesson in the afternoon.  I used to go there around 6 PM while I was studying for the past 6 months, but today I went there after lunch.  There were three pupils before me and two after me.  So it took nearly three hours or more to finish making tea and drinking tea.
Today was the first lesson of this year.  We usually have the first tea ceremony called hatsugama (初釜) in the middle of January, but this year it was cancelled because of our master's health condition.
The name of today's sweets was harugasumi (春霞), spring haze, but it was still winter today.  Flowers of today were plum, white and red camellia which are only used as buds because the flower drops and it reminds of guillotine and it was not good for samurai (侍).
A new word of today was shorai (松籟) which means the sound of boiling water in the pot. 

2013.12.5

It was fine.

There was the last lesson of Marketing and we had a vote for the report of analyzing the problem of existing business or new business.   The winner of the former got the title of the Best Analyst, and the latter the Best Entrepreneur.   There were 25 entries and we read all and chose three best reports per person.  Two of them got a prize with above mentioned titles and one of them got the title of the Marketing Master in the class.  Four other reports were selected as winning reports too.  I wrote about creating a new business of low calorie Japanese Sweets for diabetes at a reasonable price though I did not win.  I hope someday this business will be operated to make diabetes people happy.

There was a tea lesson tonight.  These days I was the only one left and I made tea for myself.  Today's sweet was called hatsushimo (初霜), the first frost.  I was glad to see the name on the box because I love this sweet, however I was disappointed to see the sweet itself because it was quite different from the one I knew.  Since I was the last person tonight my master gave me leftover sweets by saying "nokori fuku" (残り福), which is actually "Nokori mono niwa fuku ga aru (残り物には福がある)" meaning "The last one is the best one." (There is a fortune in the last one.)

Tonight I watched Grand Prix Figure Skating at Fukuoka on TV.  Ms. Mao Asada (浅田真央), 23 years old became a champion for Women's short program.  And Mr. Yuzuru Hanyu (羽生結弦), 18 years old, made the first world best record of 99.84.  Congratulations!!

 

2013.11.14

It was fine today.
On Thursday I go to learn tea ceremony.  From today we started using ro (炉), hearth set in the tatami mat floor instead of furo (風炉), brazier on the tatami mat floor.  It's been quite a long time since I practiced with ro last time.  But my body remembered how to do.  The sweet was my favorite, inoko mochi (亥の子餅), wild boar cub rice cake.  It is made of chestnut & red bean paste covered with rice cake with sesame.  Rice cake with sesame looks like cub of wild boar.  Wild boars have many cubs.  Therefore this sweet was made with the wish of having babies, which means happiness and prosperity.  They had been eaten on the day of wild boar in November.  Today is not a day of wild boar but as a sweet of November inoko mochi is offered at tea ceremony. 

2013.9.12

It was fine and very hot again today.

After 6 hours' English training I went to tea lesson.  There was a pupil there and I made tea for her and myself.  The name of the sweets was rabbit on the moon.  The name of the tea container was the moon.  September is good time to see the Moon and next Thursday falls on so-called jyugoya (十五夜), literally the 15th night,  the Mid-Autumn Festival when we enjoy viewing the full moon.  Japanese people thought there were rabbits pounding rice on the moon.  We decorate sweet dumplings (月見だんご: tsukimi dango) and silver grasses (すすき:　susuki) on this day.

2013.7.18

It was hot today.
I had tea lesson in the afternoon.  Usually I go there with slacks and shirt.  But today I went there wearing beautiful summer kimono which I got from my classmate.  It was a new one, but a little bit smaller for her and she gave me.  It is good to practice tea procedure with wearing kimono.

2013.7.4

It has rained until 3 PM or so. 
I went to tea lesson in the afternoon.  The way of tea has many things to learn because we use the different utensils depends on the season.  There are things only once in a year or season used.  For example, today we used the bowl which has the pictures of hoozuki (ほおずき), Chinese lantern.  It is used only this time. 
There are certain manners depends on the utensils.  During summer hiramizusashi (平水差し), the wide surface water container  is used to feel cool.  When we finish adding water in the container, we decorate the cicada made of fukusa (袱紗), silk cloth on the top of the lid.  Since I made it after 20 years or so, it took time to remember how to make it. 
Today I practiced not only tea procedure but also charcoal procedure.
After the lesson I went shopping.

2013.6.13

It has been raining here and rather cool, however in Kansai area and other places the temperature exceeded more than 37 degrees centigrade and it became the hottest day in June in history.
I went to learn tea ceremony.  There was nobody before me so it did not take long to practice making tea and drinking tea.  Today's sweet was named Isuzugawa (五十鈴川 : Isuzu river).  It was like flowing water with a water bird.  Isuzu river flows in Ise where I went to last weekend.  I happened to bring souvenir from Ise.  So after the lesson I enjoyed talking with my master.
At night I went shopping for Father's Day which is the next Sunday.  Do you have a Father's Day in your country?  If so, how do you celebrate it?

2013.5.30

It was rainy.
I went to the tea ceremony lesson after a long years, maybe more than a score.   I arrived there around 1:30PM, but there were already three people there.  While I was there I met 6 pupils in total and I could see 4 people's tea-serving manners (お点前 : otemae).  Today we practiced  the way of thick tea procedure called o koicha (お濃茶). Therefore it takes more time.  And when I finished, it was already 5 PM.  It is very hard for me to sit up straight called seiza (正座) for such a long time.  Today's sweet was the shape of hydrangea (紫陽花: ajisai).