I tried making koicha with different amounts of water.

My dilemma on making koicha, thick tea
The distinction on the way of making koicha is that you add water twice. A typical instruction is something like this;

Put three scoops of matcha into the bowl and add a little amount water.

Blend them by moving the whisk slowly to a make smooth paste of tea

Add appropriate doses of water and mix it well with whisk.

Koicha, thick tea

This is what I learned at my tea school and you will also find a similar instruction on many books. I think that it is very ambiguous for first-time learners. I'm still not sure how much the appropriate doses are. I wish if there was guide on how many grams of tea and how much milliliter of water should be used.


Informations that I collected from books
Not many books explain the way of preparing koicha with specific amounts. However, I found some informations in some books and I'll introduce them here;
Amount of tea
- 3.75g (Sen Soshitsu XV)
- 3.4g (Note on the instruction manual for a tea sifter)
Amount of water
- The same as usucha, thin tea, Three-and-a-half swallows (Sen Soshitsu XV, Tankosha)
- First water: 25ml (Tankosha)
- First water should be 30-40% of entire water. The amount of water should be enough to get the tea powder to float slightly. (Horiuchi Soshin)
Each author or publisher has their own way and there is no coherence among the above-mentioned information.


Weird result
To study for myself, I tried making koicha with different amount of water. I used 3.6g of matcha on each brewing.
 60ml - Too thin
 40ml - Too thin
 35ml - Good thickness
 38ml - Good thickness (slightly thin)
I didn't find a big difference in thickness between the 60 and 40 tea even though there was certain difference on the amount of water (20ml). On the other hand, the 38ml tea had a quite good thickness compared to the 40ml tea. Only 2ml made a big difference. I was very curious how it happened. In the beginning, I wanted to know the best amount allocation on the first and second water. I made some adjustments on each brewing in the amount of the first water. Maybe, the way of how I moved the whisk was not consistent either. These caused the weird result. The thickness can be affected by how you move the whisk and the proportion of the first and second water. I actually experienced and learned it.


Ten times of water
I will skirt around the issue of the water allocation and the way of whisking this time. I'm going to focus only on the entire amount of water. From the previous experiment, I made an educated guess that my ideal amount of water will be about 10 times of tea. I fixed the amounts of the first water at 18ml and the tea at 3.6g, and did the test again. I tried three different amounts;

My assumption was quite correct! I was satisfied with the thickness of all the three teas. The 9-time tea had good thickness and it still runs smoothly. The 11-time tea was light but I could still enjoy the significance of koicha. To conclude, I can say that my guide is about 10 times the amount of water against the tea.


Numbers are useless
You need to adjust the amounts depending on seasons and guests. Also, the numbers are useless once you are in the tea room. I think that is why there is no specified amount of ingredients on books or taught at schools. I believe that you have to learn it on your own by carefully watching the amount of tea on your scoop and the water poured into the bowl.

Thick Tea and Thin Tea

Two ways of preparing
There are two ways of preparing matcha; one is usucha, thin tea and the other one is koicha, thick tea. What I always talk about on this blog is usucha. It is the well-recognized way, which is often served at cafes and casual ceremonies. Usucha is light and has a bit of foam on its surface. Koicha is made with double amount of tea, so it is thick like potage and has a strong flavor. It is served in rare occasions. In a formal ceremony, koicha and usucha are both served. Koicha is regarded as the main point in the ceremony. The host and guests prepare and proceed the ceremony to appreciate koicha.



Left: usucha,  Right: koicha

Difference of tea
The tea used for usucha and koicha are basically the same. However, low-grade matcha is not suitable for koicha, which is supposed to be very thick. In past days, tea used to be preserved in a ceramic jar. Good tea was put in a paper bag and stored in it. The reaming space in the jar was filled with another tea. I guess that the tea used as a filler serves as insulator from humidity and heat‏. The premium tea in the bag was for koicha and the filler was used for usucha. Nowadays, it is just a matter of quality.

Sharing one bowl of tea
While usucha is served individually to each guest, multiple servings are prepared in one bowl for koicha and the guests share it. There are different opinions about the reason for sharing the same bowl. One is to shorten the ceremony hours. Another reason is that it is difficult to prepare only for one portion. The other explanation is that sharing one bowl of tea contributes a feeling of togetherness. I think that either opinion has both persuasive and unconvincing sides. I still don’t know what the reasonable explanation is.

Koicha to me
I sometimes find koicha tastes awful. However, once in a while, I am absolutely pleased with a perfectly-prepared bowl with delightful sweetness in the rich grassy aroma. That makes me want to explore more about it. At my tea school, we usually practice usucha and koicha separately. However, I sometimes have an opportunity to practice them in sequence. In a calm moment, the host and guests try to focus on one bowl of koicha. After the koicha session, people get to relax and enjoy usucha. At the moment, I can finally feel the difference between formality in koicha and casualness in usucha. I might need to think not only of koicha itself, but I have to try to see its role in an entire tea ceremony to understand what it is. Koicha is not the tea that I always find appealing, but it is definitely a thing that I want to explore more.

Prevent a Crack on Your Tea Whisk

Crack on my chasen tea whisk
I got a crack on the handle of my chasen or tea whisk. For tea ceremonies, chasen is basically considered as a consumable item, so it’s probably not good to use a cracked whisk. However, it is impractical to have a brand new one at every occasion for personal use or at tea schools. So, I’m still using the broken chasen at home and I kind of find the crack even charming. 

Can’t think of what has caused the crack
I have heard that it cracks in a dry environment. I sometimes use my chasen every day and sometimes don’t use it for weeks. I thought that it cracked when it got too dry during the period that I didn’t use it. But then, I have a question. Why my unused chasens in the storage don’t get cracks and why only the one I currently use got the crack? I can’t think of a good explanation on that.

I asked a chasen craftsman
On Facebook, I was asked for an advice on how to prevent cracks of chasen. So, I called a chasen craftsman asked his opinion. According to him, good-quality bamboo can crack easily because it has fine and high-density fiber and it is hard and strong. He says that temperature difference is often the cause of cracks. In Japan, you often get the cracks between March and May and also in the season when you use the heater. He said that you can hear the whisks cracking at the department store in a winter season at night. It is because it is warm at daytime but at night, the air conditioners are turned off and it gets very cold.

Ideal storage for chasen
It seems good to keep your chasen in a place with low-temperature difference and without an air conditioner. The chasen craftsman recommends a cool and dark place for storing them. My storage of chasen stocks is exactly like that. It now totally make sense why my stocks don’t get cracks. Chasen is made of natural material. So, it gets moldy if it’s not dry enough and it has a risk of cracks if it’s too dry.
< Points for treating chasen >
1. After use, rinse it with water and air-dry well (Avoid putting directly under the sunlight‏).
2. Then, store it in a cool and dark place (Don’t store it in the refrigerator).
The tips are no surprise and very basic. However, I was not able to achieve these simple things. I’ve kept my chasen in the kitchen where I use an air conditioner. Drying could be one of the reasons but I learned that temperature difference is one of the biggest causes. We hope you find it informative.

Demonstration video how to prepare matcha

Here's a new demonstration video on how to prepare matcha shosen.



Shosen is available on our shop >> click here

The matcha surpasses my usual one from a local shop.

Source for matcha
Where is a good place to buy matcha online? I often receive this question from my customers and blog readers. I’ve regretted to tell them that I don’t know any shop that I can recommend. I usually buy matcha at local shops so no need to buy it online. And also, some shops don’t have an international shipping service unfortunately, even though they have good tea. Today, I finally solved this dilemma. I’m pleased to inform that I started dealing matcha and gyokuro in my shop!! Yeeaah! Forgive me for advertising it here, haha. I have only two types of tea, but I’m really proud of them. Now, I can recommend my teas. 

You never know where you are going to meet your tea.
Once I was astonished by the flavor of matcha that I had in a tea ceremony. Intuitively I realized that I loved this matcha more than the one I usually get from a local shop. This tea has as much umami as my usual one, but its flavor is more natural. I could simply enjoy the sweet-umami note in the pleasing grassy flavor. I visited the tea farmer finally and got the deal to sell their matcha. 

Taste of matcha
I get a chance to try different matcha every time I attend tea ceremonies.‏ Their flavors differ. The flavor of some matcha are clear and refreshing with a green hint. Some have a mellow milky flavor created with luscious umami. Basically, two major flavors that matcha consists are spinach-like bitter taste and mellow sweet flavor of umami. Cheap matcha has a strong bitter taste and good one has abundant umami. The umami is a distinctive flavor of Japanese tea. It is appreciated in Japan but it doesn’t seem true for everybody. I’ve heard that some Westerners doesn’t like umami in green tea much and rather prefer a hint of fresh green.

Our matcha, Shosen
With my experience, shosen is one of the matcha with richest umami. I don’t recommend it to people who are not very keen on umami, but if you are the one who wants to try a significance of Japanese tea, you’ve got to try Shosen. It is matcha for umami.

Shosen is available on our shop >> click here

How to purify CHASEN tea whisk (Video)

In the tea ceremony, you purify the tea whisk with water before and after making the tea.  This video introduces the way of purifying the CHASEN tea whisk.  The manner varies depending on school traditions. 
This video includes English subtitle. If you don’t see it, check your setting on YouTube.

Special Matcha for My Dad

Japanese New Year
We believe that everything restarts from a New Year. I love that concept. We clean our house in the end of the year. We start a new year with clean house and refreshed mind. Somehow we appreciate new things and also first things of the year. We love to witness the first sunrise of the year, the first sale and even the first dream. We believe that the dream you have on the night of January 2nd will tell what the New Year is going to be for you. If you dream about Mt. Fuji, your new year will be great one.

Spending time with family
In Japan, family usually gets together at New Year, like the westerners celebrate Christmas. I visit my parents’ house and every year, we have matcha and sweets on the New Year day. This year, I nicely wore my kimono and served tea ceremonially.

Sensitive stomach of my father
My dad can’t drink strong tea or coffee. His stomach is easily upset. Sometimes, he adds water to even sencha to dilute it. When everybody enjoy matcha or coffee, he has sencha or black tea.

New way of enjoying matcha
My laziness found out a new usage of matcha. Once I wanted to drink sencha but I didn’t want to prepare it in the proper way. I grudged the time and the trouble washing the teapot. So, I put one scoop of matcha and plenty of hot water in a mug and stirred with a spoon. It was as easy as making instant coffee. I didn’t even use a tea whisk. The matcha didn’t mix well but the taste was not bad at all. It tastes light like sencha. I’m clever to be lazy, hehe.

What you think best is not always necessary
At the new years’ tea ceremony at home, I served the senchatic matcha for my father. He drank up a whole bowl of tea that I served. I’m really glad that whole family spent time in a same room and enjoyed the same tea. His tea was very weak and different from how matcha supposed to taste, but he seemed quite enjoying it. I learned that it is not important what you think the best or what the common practice is. What’s important is the best for your guest.

The movie of Japanese aesthetic

This is my first time to go to theater on the premiere day of a film. I saw “Ask This of Rikyu” which I was looking forward to. I can’t judge if this was a good movie because I have read the original book and I have a favorable perspective of chanoyu (The Way of Tea). I generally think that it’s unreasonable to put the whole story from a book in just a few hours of film, the story often becomes shallow. I kind of find this file the same. However, what I was looking forward to seeing in this movie was Rikyu’s carriage in the ceremony and how they visually express the beauty on actual images. It’s worth watching for tea enthusiasts and Japanese culture lovers.

https://www.facebook.com/rikyu.movie

 

Nowadays, the manners in the tea ceremony are slightly different among tea schools even though the primary concept and procedure are the same. One of my biggest interests on this movie is to see how Rikyu’s ceremony and performance were like. I was satisfied with how the producers came up to show Rikyu’s behavior. It was very acceptable and natural. It gets me to imagine as if Rikyu performed so. The manners are a mixture of traditions of the three Sen-family tea schools that now exist, Omotesenke, Urasenke and Mushakojisenke. It was interesting to guess which manner is from which school tradition.  

When an actor tries to act some kind of profession, he might not look realistic enough to the people who are actually doing it. Even though ordinary people don’t notice them, the practitioner can find some awkwardness in his act. Don’t you think it happens sometimes? However, I as a tea trainee didn’t find such turnoff with Mr. Ebizo Ichikawa as Rikyu or rather his movements were even beautiful. I actually loved how he opened the lid of his tea container. I have already tried his way in the tea lesson last night, hahaha… There are some other movements that I want to copy. 

https://www.facebook.com/rikyu.movie

Rikyu’s behavior was surely beautiful. However, the beauty you can find in this film is not only that. I was fascinated with the artistic images. They are not spectacular or gorgeous. They are simple which you need to feel in your mind. When you discover it, you will hear “wow” from the innermost part of your heart. Those beauties were nothing special. You can find them in your surrounding nature. You might overlook them usually. They just cut them out and presented nicely. It maybe the essential of chanoyu, The Way of Tea, to enjoy discovering beauty in natural things. I hope this movie is shown overseas to introduce Japanese sense of beauty.

Rikyu was not an easy person!?

I feel that Rikyu is now something of a fad. I found a magazine featuring Rikyu at a bookstore the other day but actually there were three of them. Of course, I bought all three, hahaha. We don’t know the true personality of Rikyu, but it’s interesting to read different opinions. I think that the occasion of the boom stems from the film coming out on Dec. 7, “Ask This of Rikyu”. I welcome this boom and hope that Chanoyu (The Way of Tea) gets more popular! 

 

Rikyu is often introduced as an innovator. He contributed to the evolution of Chanoyu from luxurious to Wabi-Sabi style. For instance, he used a fish basket as a vase as if he is asking you “Isn’t this cool?” How modern he is! A tea master, Soshin Kimura illustrates Rikyu’s novelty like “At a wedding ceremony when everybody is wearing the morning dress, one came wearing a sophisticated washed-out linen shirt and jeans. He captured everybody at a blow.” I have no objection that Rikyu brought a new concept and created new values.

Rikyu is also known as a person with a keen aesthetic sense. Mr. Kenichi Yamamoto, the author of Ask This of Rikyu uniquely infers that Rikyu would not be an easy person to get along with. Rikyu might have sought beauty in every moment even in everyday living. I agree that Rikyu would be very particular about his aesthetics, but I’m not sure if he was stubborn; nobody knows. But then again, it’s very interesting to imagine that he was so.

When I read that Rikyu had an obsession with beauty even in daily life, a story of a grate figure came up in my mind. It’s Steve Jobs at a hospital refusing to wear an oxygen mask because he didn’t like its design. He asked them to bring five different options for the mask and he would pick a design he liked. I imagine that Rikyu would be a person like Mr. Jobs. Not only the obsession with design, they were both into Zen and also they were innovative. I think they are similar. What do you think? Rikyu and Mr. Jobs might have been stubborn but I regard them as people who had an insight into the nature of things and produced new values to the world.

How accurate is a teaspoon to measure matcha?

I encountered another surprise regarding preparing tea. My interest varies as well as my favorite tea. Lately, I drink matcha almost every day. Every time I prepare matcha, I scale the weight of tea that I scoop, because I want to be good at measuring matcha accurately with the bamboo tea scoop. After trying this habit for a while, I was kind of getting a good sense to tell the weight of the matcha visually by looking at the heap on my tea scoop. 

However all of a sudden, I could not scoop a desired amount. After a while, I earned the right sense back. It happened a few times. This kind of trouble arouses my curiosity with surprise. I realized that the reason of the miss-measuring is not me losing accuracy, but the volume and weight of tea are actually changing. The miss-measuring often happened after loading new matcha into my tea caddy.

The causes of different density of tea are as follows;
These are my mere guesses.

1. Movement
Once I’ve measured freshly sifted tea directly from the sifter can. Another time, I measured the tea after transferring into the tea container from the sifter. The tea was shaken and compacted when transferred. Also, the tea stored in the container for a while must have gotten moved during the storage. The vibration caused by those movements might have made them more compact.  

2. Stored old tea
Even though you sift matcha, the fluffiness of old tea is not the same as brand new one. Once I sifted old tea with lumps, and it became fine tea but I realized that the particles were not still as fine as brand new tea.

3. Moisture
Once I sifted matcha on a rainy day and I have also done it on a fine day. Maybe tea gets heavier when it has absorbed moisture.

Even with sifted matcha, the volume will vary from time to time. Nobody may not be able to measure the tea accurately with the bamboo scoop. There might not be a necessity to be so accurate, but I still want to try, hahaha.

Now, I got curious about the topic that I wrote on the previous post. I have to know what range does the weight of matcha has if measured with the 5 ml spoon. I actually measured it again.

The range is between 1.0g and 1.4g.

You might not find a big difference in taste between 1.2 tea and 1.0 tea, or between 1.2tea and 1.4tea. However, there will be a certain difference between 1.0 and 1.4. I just want you to be aware that there is a range, but I still think that the 5ml spoon is a useful item to measure matcha for beginners. 

Purifying CHASHAKU tea scoop (Video)

In the tea ceremony, you purify the tea scoop before and after making the tea by ritually wiping it with a silk cloth.  This video introduces the way of purifying the CHASHAKU tea scoop.  The manner varies depending on school traditions.

 

 

Chashaku is available on our shop.  Click this picture to jump to the shop.

Measuring matcha and water

Do you think you prepare delicious matcha with correct amount of tea and water? I have talked about this topic before. However, it might not be so accurate to judge the correct amount by its looks or weight. Who knows, maybe your scale doesn’t exactly point to the right digit. You might not still be sure if your tea tastes right. Today, I want to share things that I realized when I was preparing things for the tea ceremony that I held the other day.

By the way, have you ever heard of the term “tatedashi”? Tatedashi is a way of serving tea by making it in another room and bring it to the guests in the tea room. The host prepares tea in the tea room only for the first few guests and the tea for the rest are served from the back by assistants. It makes the ceremony runs fast and smooth, and it’s often preferred at a ceremony with a lot of guests.

For the tea ceremony that I had, an assistant needed to make a lot of bowls of tea promptly and precisely in the preparation room. For my assistant, I looked for the way to effectively measure tea and water accurately. It helps to serve consistent quality of tea for everybody. 

1.8g of matcha and 60ml water are standard amounts of ingredients. I wanted to serve tea with light flavor because most of my guests were not so familiar with matcha. To find the best mixture for this gathering, I tried different amounts of matcha and water. My choice was 1.2g of matcha and 50ml of water. This tea is very mild but you can still enjoy the essence of matcha flavor. You will beam with delight from its sweetness hopping on a comfortable grassy note. I found perfect items in the kitchen to measure the ingredients. They are a 5ml spoon and a small sencha cup. I found out that you can scoop around 1.2g of matcha with a 5ml spoon. Take note, I said spoon, not spoonful (^-^) If I fill 95% of the Wabi-iki small sencha cup which is one of the products of our shop, it is about 50ml. With the spoon and cup, I could get my assistant to serve consistent tea.  

If you are a beginner about matcha and not sure how decent matcha tastes like. You can try using 5ml spoon to measure the correct amount. You might not have a problem measuring water but it may be difficult measuring matcha. So, 5ml spoon is useful. Try the mild tea with one spoon of matcha and 50ml water, and see how you like it. Then you can adjust the amounts to find your best mixture! Good luck.

Note:
Sift matcha with a tea strainer before measuring with the spoon.
Scoop matcha gently when measuring.

Question:
In Japan, we have two scale spoons for cooking. One is called the small spoon which is 5ml and the other one is the large spoon for 15ml. I found the equivalent English words in my dictionary, a “tea spoon (5ml)” and a “table spoon (15ml)”. Are they really for scaling? Are they common in your county? I’ll be happy if you leave a comment on this post for the answer.

Related posts:
Correct amount of matcha
Volume of sifted and non-sifted matcha
Does sifted matcha really have more volume?
Correct amount of matcha on a tea spoon

Is it really Wabi-Sabi?

Is Rikyu’s tea really Wabi? I was shocked when I read such question in a book because I wondered about the same thing before. The author says that image of Chanoyu (The Way of Tea) is Wabi-Sabi or has a rustic ambience but when he saw a black urushi-lacquered water container which is one of Rikyu’s implements, he didn’t find it rustic at all. Urushi-lacquered utensils have luster and they are even amorous. It is difficult for me to consider them rustic, too.

When I see a black urushi tea container in a tea room, I’m captivated with its elegance. Its form is extremely simple and the coating is so black and smoothly glossy. The author of the book says that urushi products usually consist of exquisite curves, and the roundness is more emphasized by the profound urushi coating. Those utensils have warmness and power.

I imagined if you arrange all the implements with old-looking items in a rustic tea room, it would be just miserable or maybe boring. Having a few items with warmness and power makes the space alive and provides a sense of formality. The author says that the beauty stands out because the luster item is in the rustic space. This is my understanding of Rikyu’s Wabi-Sabi so far. His world is not Wabi-Sabi completely. 



Kiriaiguchi black chu-natsume

 



Blakck chu-natsume

How to purify NATSUME tea caddy (Video)

In the tea ceremony, you purify the tea caddy before and sometimes after making the tea by ritually wiping it with a silk cloth. This video introduces the way of purifying NATSUME tea caddy. The manner varies depending on school traditions.

 

 

How to fold FUKUSA silk cloth (video)

I have avoided writing about this topic “Folding fukusa”. It is because I didn’t want people to think that the tea ceremony is complicated. Fukusa is a silk cloth to use for purifying the utensils during the ceremony. There is a certain way of folding it which is a little arduous. However I also realized that some people are interested in holding a proper tea ceremony on their own. On this blog, I’m planning to introduce a basic ceremony that you can try at home. Folding fukusa is the first thing that I leaned at the tea school. It is an inevitable manner. That’s why I think it is the time to introduce some of these arduous gestures. Once you acquire the movements, it is not that complicated.

You can enjoy matcha without fukusa of course. However, your tea will become much more authentic and fulfilling with fukusa. Your guests will simply get relaxed by watching your beautiful gestures while they are waiting their tea. 

In this entry, I’ll introduce how to fold fukusa and in two feature entries, I’ll show you how to purify a tea container and tea scoop with fukusa.  Please note that the manner of fukusa varies depending on school traditions.

Matcha is not about the price or origin

Yesterday, I had a chance to drive by Yoshimitsu, a confectionery shop with a good reputation on excellent tasteing sweets. I got their sweets, and on the way back home I wanted to stop by my favorite tea shop to buy some matcha. You know, you got to have matcha when you have a nice confectionery. But unfortunately, the tea shop was closed so I went to another store and bought matcha. 

What I wanted to write about is not sweets. It’s about matcha. The matcha I bought yesterday cost 1575yen (20g) and it's from Uji, Kyoto. When I think of the price, I was not satisfied with the tea, because it lacks the kick of umami. The flavor consists of grassy bitterness but not umami. It is like "senchatic" flavor and I wanted more richness and depth in taste.

My standard matcha is 1050yen (20g) from Toyota, Aichi. It has much nicer rounded flavor with mouth-filling sweetness, which is less expensive than the tea I bought yesterday. Toyota is a minor matcha producing region compared to Uji, which is very popular. When you shop for matcha and find tea from Toyota and Uji, you might want to go with the tea from Uji for safer choice. But you have to keep in mind that you can’t simply determine the quality of tea just by the price or production region. They can be deceiving. This tea reminded me about it. 

Note:
I’m not saying that matcha from Uji is not good. Of course, I have tried excellent tea from Uji, too.

How to wipe the tea bowl (video)

You rinse the tea bowl before and after making matcha in a tea ceremony. There is a certain way of wiping the wet tea bowl using a special linen cloth called chakin. 　The manner varies depending on school traditions. For instance, I have taught that you wipe the bowl with three and half strokes, but some books say three strokes.

Wiping the bowl is a little complicated. You don’t have to be perfect if it is difficult for you. The idea that we clean the bowl before making tea is one of the gestures to show your respect to the guests. The tea bowl is already cleaned in the preparation room before the ceremony begins. However, you dare to clean it in front of the guests once again. I think that it represents the whole concept of the tea that you’re serving. It is something special and purified with your hospitality. As far as, you politely clean the bowl from the heart, it will be fine. Don’t worry the details too much. Good luck with your tea gathering and enjoy!!

I’m sorry if you have difficulty checking the details on this video because of the bad camera angle. My arm seems to gets in the way of my demonstration.

Please refer the previous post for the proper way of folding chakin.

How to fold chakin (video)

A special linen cloth is used to wipe the tea bowl in a tea ceremony. It is called chakin which is about 30*15cm (12*6in) large. Before the ceremony begins in the preparation room, you nicely fold a damped chakin. Then it is ready to be taken into the tea room with other utensils.

I have introduced how to prepare matcha in the past entry. One of the readers told me that he wants to know how to wipe the tea bowl properly. The manner depends on school traditions. On this video, I’ll introduce the way that I learned at my tea school. I’ll show you how to fold chakin today, and how to wipe the bowl in the next entry.






Chakin linen cloth is available on our shop. Click this picture to jump to the shop.

Common Mistake on Bowing - How to bow in the tea room -

When Japanese people shake hands with westerners, we sometimes bow while shaking hands.  It might look comical to you, but I have probably done it myself before, hahaha.  I know that it looks funny but bowing is so natural for us and we naturally bow when greeting.  However, the opposite thing can happen to westerners.  When westerners bow in Japanese style, some of them stick out their heads forward.  It looks comical for us, too.  Why do you think it happens?

In the western greeting, you shake hands as you look straight at the eyes of the other person, which expresses integrity.  I think that this manner makes some westerners try to look at the other person even when they are bowing.  It makes their chin up and causes the sticking of their heads.

In Japanese greeting, we show our respect by removing our gaze from the other person.  Staring at someone directly is considered rude.  (There seem to be some exceptions, for bowing in some martial arts, we look at the opponent.)  I’ve never thought of the reasons behind the manner of bowing, but I’ve just learned it from a book that I’ve read. hehehe.   This idea makes sense to me also when comparing with the practice of bowing in the tea ceremony.  When we greet formally in a ceremony, we place a folding fan on the floor in front of us to create a temporal borderline with it.  It is the sign of condescension by not directly facing to the other person.  It supports aforementioned idea.

Not understanding these cultural backgrounds makes our greeting comical. 

This is what I have learned from my tea school and some books.  Bowing varies school to school and person to person, but this is how I do it.  I’m not sure if you want to know but I’ll share some detailed tips:

Move your hand smoothly by traveling along your lap and place them on the floor in front of your knees.

Retain a small space between both hands and make a triangle with your thumbs and index fingers.  Line up the four fingers, which looks beautiful.  Touch the floor without your palm making in contact to the floor, to make your hand look gentle.

Bend your hip and tilt your upper body with a straight back.  Try not to curl your back.

Look at the floor a little far from you, with your chin down

When raising your body back, do not push up with your arms, use your back.

Take back your hand smoothly with the backward motion

Now, you are one of the people who can bow beautifully in the tea room.

If I have a chance to shake hands, I’ll try to look at the other person’s eyes and try not to bow at the same time.  If you have a chance to do Japanese bowing, try to look at the floor!

Greeting between the host and guests

The host and guests greet each other by bowing silently at the chumon gate in the garden and after getting into the tea room they finally exchange words and courtesies.  Today, I would like to talk about a philosophical aspect of Chanoyu.  Why don't you greet with words for the first time you meet?  I guess that there are not many tea people who can answer this question.

When you as the guests get in the tea room, the host won’t be in the room yet.  After entering the room, you go to and look at the hanging scroll, flower and utensils and then you take a seat.  The host would appear when all the guests have been seated.  There is another interesting rule at this point.  The host opens the door and tries to greet from outside of the room.  Then you say “Please come in”.  The host will come in and have the greeting in the room.  Why do you need to give the host permission to come in?  You were invited and came to the host’s place.  The tea room is the host’s property.  Isn’t it a little weird?  It is said that the tea room is prepared for you, so the host tries to express his hospitality by practicing a humility and showing you respect.  I first thought how complicated it is!  But now, I can understand it if I think it as a relationship between the guest and the staff at a hotel, hahaha. 

Let’s get back to the first question.  Now in the room, the host and you as the guests make greetings with words while expressing the gratitude of invitation or participation.  Why have you kept silent on exchanging courtesies at the chumon gate?  I read one explanation which satisfies me.  The idea might be quite spiritual.  The tea room is considered as a cloistered sanctuary.  The host from the tea room or the inner-garden is a purified man.  On the other hand, you as the guests are people from the real world which is different from this sanctuary.  It could be considered that the people from the different worlds cannot talk nor have a common channel to communicate.  This is the explanation for the silent greeting.  After the greeting, you purify your hands and mouth and get in the room.  Now, the host and you are finally in the same world and can vocally communicate.

Tea people may enjoy this kind of spiritual concept.  When I think that way, the perspective of the tea world becomes much more firm and exciting.  This is just one idea.  If you know different explanation regarding the silent greeting, please let me know.