Japanese Tea Ceremony

 One aspect of Hannah's course is studying about Traditional Japanese Culture.  It's part of the social studies that she is doing.  In the 3rd grade, the kids study about their hometowns and what Japanese Culture is popular in the area.  The city where Hannah's university is has a Traditional Tea House. Last week Hannah and her classmates went to experience the Japanese Tea Ceremony.

The students were given a talk about the Tea House and the history of the area, the Tea Ceremony itself and then they were served tea.  Hannah took a load of photos and one thing that I noticed was that even though it's the dead of winter the grounds are really beautiful,  I would love to visit in the spring when the garden is alive!

The Tea House and grounds

The gate to the Tea House

Small bridge over a pond.

One thing that I was surprised to see was the small entrance.  This was used during the Edo Period when Samurai carried swords.  To enter the Tea House the swords had to be left outside.  I had heard of this but had never seen it before.

Door to enter without swords

The same door outside

All Tea Houses have a similar layout.  The center of the tatami mats is a hearth, in the winter it would be lit,  and one must never stand on or put one's hands on that small tatami.

without the tatami cover

the same place with the cover

Each Tea House has a hanging scroll and flowers displayed.

The scroll

The tea is macha and is served with very sweet snacks to offset the bitter taste of the macha.

Tea and little snacks

Just some other photos of the place.

This is the man who had the Tea House built

Nice place to sit and have tea

And of course, Hannah found cats!!

Tea House cats!