Tea Ceremony

On 3/25/07 I had the opportunity to attend a Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony in Miyajima Island (30 minutes from Hiroshima). Check out the tiny entrance to the tea house. I asked the lady "Why do you have to crawl through such a small door?". She said "In order to show respect, it forces you to enter the tea room bowing." Interesting.
There was a beautiful garden in front of the tea house.

Before entering the tea room you have to wash your hands in order to "purify your soul". Here is some proof that I'm "purified" (I'm not sure if it counts if you are not Buddhist but hey might as well try).

The Tea Ceremony ladies taught us how to make some tea. Is seemed easy but one of the ladies said she has been studying 8 years in order to master the art of the Tea Ceremony.

Here I am stirring as fast as I could, but it was not enough. The lady next to me got tired of waiting and took the bowl away and began to stir herself !!!

Here is some video I took of the ceremony:
Tea ceremony part 1



Tea ceremony part 2


Here is our lucky group of people, notice that almost all the Japanese ladies where wearing a kimono. The host, male or female, wears a kimono, while guests may wear kimono or subdued formal wear. According to my research "The host, male or female, wears a kimono, while guests may wear kimono or subdued formal wear. " If by "subdued formal wear" you mean a shirt and some jeans I'm there!!! Never the less, I was happy in my super Hello Kitty shirt... hey at least she is Japanese OK? I guess I should have read some information before going, so don't let the same thing happen to you!!! Check out the following link for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony

There was also the Japanese Doll Festival called Hina-matsuri, or Girls' Day. Platforms with a red cloth (called hi-mōsen), are used to display a set of ornamental dolls (called hina-ningyō) representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress.

Here they used a kimono to decorate the background instead of the traditional red cloth.

The dolls had extremely detailed faces and costumes. I talked to some people at work and they said these dolls are usually very expensive (around $2,000 for a set) and are often handed down from generation to generation. So now you know that if you come and visit me we can't buy one and cut their hair and alter their clothes like an old barbie. If you want to learn more about these dolls visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hina_doll