Fujisan Katatsuki 富士山肩衝 Rank Chaire Type Historical Period Current Owner / Collection Denrai Chukomeibutsu 中興名物Karamono katatsuki chaire 唐物肩衝茶入 Southern Song – Yuan Dynasty 南宋–元時代Yuki Museum of Art...
Uesugi Hyotan 上杉瓢箪 Alternate Name: Otomo Hyotan 大友瓢箪, Usuki Hyotan 臼杵瓢箪 Rank Chaire Type Historical Period Current Owner / Collection Denrai Omeibutsu 大名物, Higashiyama gyobutsu 東山御物, ...
Practicing Tea with a Sincere Mind
Tsutsui Hiroichi
To elaborate upon the phrase in the Namporoku, “Ichi za ichi e” (一座一会 one group, one moment), we can look at Ii Naosuke’s phrase “Ichi go ichi e” (一期一 会 each meeting, only once), as it appears in his Chanoyu ichi e shu. In this work, Ii discusses the attitude with which one ought to ...
Warm Topics for Hot Days
Sen Tomiko, Joko Myocho Daishi
To want immediate gratification is characteristic of modern life—to gain knowledge right now, to possess one’s desire right now. Demands for instantaneous methods and shortcuts are not limited to transportation but come from every field. In contrast, to speak of a ...
Firefly Light
Dr. Sen Genshitsu, Hounsai Daisosho
Uemura Shôen, one of the most renowned female painters of recent times, left behind numerous masterful paintings, many of which had as a theme that essence of the sixth month, the firefly. Among them, I am drawn particularly by the one entitled New Firefly [shinkei], ...
The Desert and The Tearoom
Dr. Sen Genshitsu, Hounsai Daisosho
A conversation between Dr. Sen Genshitsu, fifteenth generation Grand Tea Master of the Urasenke Tradition of Chanoyu, and Hirayama Ikuo, artist, former president of Tokyo University of Fine Arts, and advisor to UNESCO’s panel on the preservation of the world’s cultural assets...
Greeting the New Year
Dr. Sen Genshitsu, Hounsai Daisosho
As we face this New Year I am sure every person, in his or her own manner, has expressed the profound hope it will be a year of security and good health. In my household we welcomed the New Year with the same hopes, by means of long-established customs. At the gray...
Other Distinguishing Features Camellia Japonica was native to Japan in two forms: the Yabutsubaki ヤブツバキ, a taller tree that grows at lower and milder elevations,...
Winter Tea Flowers An old saying in chanoyu states, “for winter use the camellia, in summer the rose of sharon.” And in most winter season...
