I don’t know whether I just didn’t notice this before or whether it takes warm, wet weather to bring it out, but the 50 year-old Chadō Kaikan building where we hold our practice chaji smells like the cottage in Sawyer, Michigan where the Boydstons spent many happy, lazy, summer vacation days. No beach within walking distance here, though. And no laziness. Read the rest of this entry »
You’ll be shocked to learn that every once in a while I actually go in for Culture. At Sean’s timely suggestion, I rode with him and Tanawat down to the nearby Raku museum to catch the second-to-last day of an exhibition featuring one tea bowl from each of the 15 generations of Raku masters. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been here exactly a month now, and my bowing reflex has gotten extremely well developed. Read the rest of this entry »
Back to what passes for normality around here. Gary-sensei continued his detailed explanation of the chaji with a loving description of the kaiseki meal. Read the rest of this entry »
Having eaten up my stash of school-provided breakfast food, I started the day with a roll from the 99-yen store: cellophane-wrapped, nearly imperishable, stacked with egg, cheese, and a slice of bacon. Then it was off to prepare for our first monthly meeting with Okusama, who in addition to being Oiemoto’s wife is vice-principle of the school. Read the rest of this entry »