Koshikake-machiai, waiting bench in tearoom garden

When I went to the tea ceremony to Urakuen in Inuyama, I took some pictures around the tea room. A proper tea room (or I should say proper tea house) obtains some subsidiary facilities such as the way leading to the tearoom and waiting bench in the garden. The photo is the waiting bench, called koshikake-machiai. At a formal tea ceremony, guests wait at the bench in the garden until the ceremony is ready. The guests will be notified as soon as the ceremony is going to start by sound of the bell or sound of pouring fresh water into a stone basin.



Please imagine that you are waiting for a tea ceremony at the bench in a calm Japanese garden. Looking at your surroundings, you enjoy finding the wide variety color of green in moss and trees. Then you hear the sound of pouring fresh water into a stone basin from somewhere in the garden. By hearing such, you will realize how quiet the surrounding is. You can tell by the sound that notifies everyone the start of the ceremony how elegant it is. (^-^) You are about to leave the bench. The calm moment before the ceremony appears very nicely.