Chanoyu, Tea Ceremony

I have been studying chanoyu, tea ceremony for 2 years, but I'm still not accustomed to the etiquette, rules and movements of the tea ceremony.   One of the reasons seems to be the fact that the rites which  have been almost disappeared in our days are so complicated.  The prof. is not usually demonstrate to the student how to do, but she just says " It's not correct way, Ms." every time when I make mistakes.  The students have to learn only by observing how other students do.  Oh, I cannot remember them.  It takes so long time to be a master of tea...

If someone ask me, "What is the charm of chanoyu?,  I would respond them, "When I sit quietly in the simple  tatami room which is totally different from our modern life, I can forget the real life.   And when  I concentrate myself on the preparation of a bowl of tea,  my heart is full of peace and I am able to find serenity of my mind.  Reaching this situation of spirt is the most charm of chanoyu." 

These are photos of this month's decoration.  The theme are iris, fresh green, etc.

Flowers and hanging scroll.  From these seasonal decorations, the guest can feel the thought of the host.

My Prof. 

Confections in  forme of iris

implements

Ski in Fukushima

On April 28-30, 2011, my friends and I went skiing at Mount Aizu Komagatake in Hinoemata Village in Fukushima Pref. .  It locates actually 280km far from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, so,  to be honest, I was a little bit concerned about the safety of the roads and the mountains themselves in Fukushima and the radioactive air, but as I drove my car to the Hinoemata Village, I forgot my concerns: On the way, the roads were completely normal, though partly closed at Shiobara Onsen because of a shoot of a big rock on the road. Nothing has been changed!  I felt more relieved than anything.  I felt happy to come again to Fukushima after that disaster.

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On 29^th, we climbed up on ski with skin and skied down.  Normally, it takes about 4 hours to climb up to the top, but that day, we were very tired.  We did no exercise for about 7 weeks, because we didn’t felt doing mountaineering after having seen the catastrophe led by tsumani and nuclear power plant.  Finally, we could not reach the top as the weather got worse, but we were so happy to be in the mountain fields. 

on the way to the summit.

The slope of Aizu Komagatake is not steep, but rather easy.  However, it was a little bit difficult for my level of ski.  We skied freely through the forest of beech trees (buna in Japanese that represent Japanese broad-leaf trees).  We had a good tree run!　Nature gave us power! 

skiing on the slope of beech trees

On 30^th, I said good-by to my friends and drove my car to see my grand mother who lives in Ibaraki Pref.  Ibaraki had also damage and they still have aftershocks, and threat of radioactivity.  So they are very much worried.  Granma was so pleased to see me.