Japanese Tea Ceremony
Our school took a few students to a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. Jake was in class at the time, but I was able to go. It was in a traditional Japanese-style room, and before the ceremony started, they put us in traditional kimonos.
The ceremony includes lots of formal gestures. For instance, there is lots of bowing, and the level of respect you're showing in your bow depends on how your hands are placed in front of you and how deeply you bow, and maybe how long you bow. You are served a small sweet while your tea is being prepared. Then, when you receive your tea, you say to the person who received before you, "I will join you," and you say to the person next to you who hasn't received tea yet, "Excuse me."
Just one cup of tea is prepared at a time, each cup going through an elaborate preparation process that looks more like a dance than tea-preparation to me. Everything is incredibly precise: the movements are smooth and calulated, every item is placed meticulously in its exact place, often with a graceful hand gesture of presentation. For instance, the preparer pours half a ladle of water into the boiling water pot, and in the same movement, removes a full ladle of hot water from the pot. She then pours half of that ladle into a cup, and pours the other half (from a few inches above, so you can watch the water fall in) back into the boiling pot. She places the bamboo ladle in place over the pot in a graceful hand-swirl movement and then picks up the whisk to mix the tea. And on and on, the whole thing is precise and rehearsed and beautiful!
There are important rules for the guests, too. For instance, you hold the tea with one hand underneath and the other around the cup. Another important thing for the guests to know is the magic phrase to tell the tea preparer that your group is finished. Until you say it, the tea preparer is supposed to continue preparing tea forever and ever. Unfortunately, I forgot it already. It's a good thing I like tea...
For me, the kneeling was the hardest part. The guests are supposed to kneel in such a way that they kneel with their weight on their feet for the entire time... and that can mean hours and hours. Holy moly!
Fortunately, our ceremony was less than an hour long *and* our guide was very thoughtful about allowing us weakling foreigners to relax every so often, but my feet fell asleep anyway. I noticed that our teacher had no problem kneeling for the full time, but I cannot imagine sitting like this for hours. If I were forced to, I'm sure I would be the worst conversationalist in the world since I could think of nothing but my feet having fallen asleep. No wonder modern Japanese women seem to be able to wear high heels so effortlessly, even when walking long distances: they've had many years (generations!) of practice. I'm not sure it's that they have developed stronger/more flexible ankle/foot muscles, or if they're just better at tolerating the discomfort. Maybe both. Regardless, I have enormous respect for them.
