Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

Made from leaves that have not been oxidized.


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Dec 13th, '12, 01:58
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Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by blairswhitaker » Dec 13th, '12, 01:58

I would like to start a place for those of us who practice Chado/ tea ceremony/ Cha-No-Yu/ sado, to post. I thought green tea might be the best place but chip can feel free to move it wherever might be most appropriate. I figured you could introduce your self and talk about your practice as well as keep us informed about you practice and ask/answer each others questions.

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Dec 13th, '12, 02:25
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by blairswhitaker » Dec 13th, '12, 02:25

I was first introduced to Chado in my sophomore year of college at Northern Arizona University. I was taking an Asian art history class as well as ceramics that year. I had previously read about tea ceremony in books about zen and had taken a class on buddhist theology, in which their was some mention, but I had never actually seen any matcha up until this point.

The University has some strong ties to japan through it's ceramic department. There is an on site Soan tea room. It is a very nice room and I would recommend visiting it if you are a practicing student or tea master.(it is pictured in my avatar)

I was learning about tea ceremony and drinking a lot of match throughout my time as a college student. I was also throwing my own bowls and water jars, ect. to be fired in several of the woodfire kilns available to students.

with no real sensei or school affiliation my practice was mainly self indulgent and fun. I carried on for nearly ten years enjoying tea ware, Matcha, and the arts surrounding tea ceremony.

Earlier this year I decided to take my practice serious and I began studying with Sensei Soshin Saito. I am a member of the Chado Urasenke Tankokai San Diego Association.

I have currently finished my lesson in Misono-Dana, and am not sure what Temae lies ahead of me next. As a class we are preparing for our 48th annual Hatsugama in the year of the snake.

As a student of Art, Zen, and Life I find Chado to be a natural extension of meditation in movement. As well as a studios exercise it is a deep exercising of the spirit. At my beginner level I can only glimpse the rare moments of peaceful syncronicity that this wonderful practice can bring forth.

Please bring forth your stories of singing kettles and verdant bowls of tea to share in this thread.
Thank you,
Blair Sky Whitaker

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Dec 15th, '12, 01:14
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by robbie_olive » Dec 15th, '12, 01:14

I have also been learning 'sado' here in Melbourne, Australia, through the Ueda Soko Ryu school of tea, a smaller tea school originating from the samurai class, with its headquarters in Hiroshima. My sensei, with the help of his father, had a chashitsu (tea-room) built into his apartment. Amazing!

If you wish to look at how our school works in our Australia branch, here is the website: http://www.uedaryumelb.com/
My sensei is also hoping to get a Sydney branch of the school going too, which is exciting news!

I have been learning sado intensively for just over 2 years now, and I thoroughly enjoy it. Through sado, it has broadened my knowledge and understanding behind the Japanese culture and language. It also quietens my mind of everything in this hectic Western capitalist society of ours! Furthermore, I just love drinking matcha and green tea, period!!

The school has been around for hundreds of years. It follows a philosophy that cha-no-yu should have no wasted movements, as a way of purifying the mind, body and soul, while performing the temae (procedure).

My sensei is now preparing me to head to Hiroshima in April 2013, to meet our Iemoto-sama (Grandmaster) and to receive my first qualification. In our school, I believe there are 5 qualifications to master. I have yet a long way to go!!! I am very excited, yet very nervous at this prospect too. As well as learning sado, in the meantime, I have also been studying the Japanese language intensively so as to have a good grasp of the language when I finally land there.

I look forward to furthering my knowledge of sado and hope to continue to do so for a long time to come.

Cheers!

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Dec 17th, '12, 09:23
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by andrzej bero » Dec 17th, '12, 09:23

looks interesting thread, I will keep watching

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Jan 20th, '13, 16:35
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by andrzej bero » Jan 20th, '13, 16:35

I am not a sado student but here some shots from hatsu gama held in Warsaw today (excuse the mobile quality)
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Jan 21st, '13, 03:29
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by blairswhitaker » Jan 21st, '13, 03:29

Wow great pics andrjez, Looks like you had a rather intimate Hatsugama?

Our hatsugama was really nice, we served tea to 96 guests as well as bento meals for everyone. It was fun to meet up with students who I don't have class with and see all the women dressed in their beautiful kimono of endless variety (us gentlemen looked quite nice as well but our kimono are slightly more "reserved"). It was a lot of work and all of us students stayed very busy serving tea but we had a very celebratory and festive occasion .

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Jan 21st, '13, 06:10
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by andrzej bero » Jan 21st, '13, 06:10

blairswhitaker wrote:Wow great pics andrjez, Looks like you had a rather intimate Hatsugama?
Thanks blairswhitaker, compared to nearly one hundred guests - for sure. I can not imagine how it could be organized even. Here there were probably three sessions. On my was 12 guests. Sweets, koicha, simple but sophisticated meal with sake and usucha at the end. Blairswithaker, any shots? I regret that I did not take anything more than a phone. Especially that in the event participated the beautiful objects. Wonderful centuries-old chashaku and unusual, coming from somewhere in South Asia chaire.

May 9th, '16, 07:54
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by Smith » May 9th, '16, 07:54

Hi Robbie, I've been looking for something like what you describe but it seems the person who used to run the Ueda Soko Ryu school of tea has moved away. Do you happen to know whether there is a different school of tea in Melbourne that I could join? I'd love to hear any ideas you might have.
Cheers
Smith
robbie_olive wrote:I have also been learning 'sado' here in Melbourne, Australia, through the Ueda Soko Ryu school of tea, a smaller tea school originating from the samurai class, with its headquarters in Hiroshima. My sensei, with the help of his father, had a chashitsu (tea-room) built into his apartment. Amazing!

If you wish to look at how our school works in our Australia branch, here is the website: http://www.uedaryumelb.com/
My sensei is also hoping to get a Sydney branch of the school going too, which is exciting news!

I have been learning sado intensively for just over 2 years now, and I thoroughly enjoy it. Through sado, it has broadened my knowledge and understanding behind the Japanese culture and language. It also quietens my mind of everything in this hectic Western capitalist society of ours! Furthermore, I just love drinking matcha and green tea, period!!

The school has been around for hundreds of years. It follows a philosophy that cha-no-yu should have no wasted movements, as a way of purifying the mind, body and soul, while performing the temae (procedure).

My sensei is now preparing me to head to Hiroshima in April 2013, to meet our Iemoto-sama (Grandmaster) and to receive my first qualification. In our school, I believe there are 5 qualifications to master. I have yet a long way to go!!! I am very excited, yet very nervous at this prospect too. As well as learning sado, in the meantime, I have also been studying the Japanese language intensively so as to have a good grasp of the language when I finally land there.

I look forward to furthering my knowledge of sado and hope to continue to do so for a long time to come.

Cheers!

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May 19th, '16, 14:36
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Re: Unofficial Cha-No-yu / Tea Ceremony thread.

by Emmet » May 19th, '16, 14:36

Just joined; I live in western North Carolina, and am self-taught; I doubt anyone else practices chado for many, many miles.

I just received this overly extravagant gift from my mate.

Image

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