Local bancha

There are some local teas around Japan. I know of those local banchas which I have read in the text-book, but I have never seen or tasted them. I was able to experience some of them on the tea workshop I attended this weekend.


There were around 15 to 17 different kinds of local tea at the workshop. Most of them were coarser than sencha and had a roasted flavor and less bitterness, which reminds me of a hojicha’s taste. There were some fermented teas, which have more distinctive taste.

Koybancha from Kyoto
It is popular daily tea in Kyoto. This tea uses the leaves that are left after picking leaves for gyokuro. The brewed tea was brown. It is deep roasted so it has a smoky aroma and nutty taste.

Goishicha from Kochi
This is a fermented tea. It contains lactic acid bacteria. I tested a flavor like soil and sour like citrus.

Yoshino-no-hoji-nikkan(hiboshi)banncha from Nara
It made by sun drying. When I sipped the tea, a distinctive taste came first, and it had a clear aftertaste with a faint taste like English tea and hojicha.

Some other teas (click for the large picture)

Size of tea bowl

I saw matcha prepared in a cup at a blog written by someone overseas. I think a cup is too small to prepare matcha. Today I would like to talk about the size of tea bowls. In Japan we use a tea bowl to prepare matcha. It is called chawan, sometimes o-chawan or matcha-jawan. It is a vessel to make matcha, to drink matcha from and to appreciate as an art. Tea bowls have to be of certain size to move a bamboo tea whisk in it. So, tea bowls are much larger than regular sencha-cups.

There are various designs for tea bowl. I measured the diameter of the tea bowls I have. The four tea bowls at the front row were something between 12.2 and 15.2 cm, which is 4.8 - 8.98in. The three cups on the back side are too small for preparing matcha. Even the mug doesn’t have an enough space to move the whisk. If you can’t whisk well, you might get lumps of matcha and the tea won’t taste good.

If you are looking for a substitution of a tea bowl, look for a bowl with a diameter larger than 12cm (4.72in). The shape of bowl affects ease of whisking, and you can’t tell good or bad only by the diameter. However the diameter of the tea bowl can be one of your guides if you are looking for the substitution. The white bowl in the picture below is an ordinary bowl that can be used in many ways; rice, meal or soup. Something like that could be the substitution.

Matcha is prepared with about 60ml (2.1oz) water. So the tea in a tea bowl looks very little. When I had a bowl of matcha for the first time, I remember that I wondered as a kid why the tea is so little. Now I still don’t know the reason. You need a big bowl to move the whisk in it perhaps or it might have other reasons. Now I got used to the amount of tea and the bowl size, and I think it should be the way it is. I hope you find a correct size of the tea bowl♪( ´▽｀)

Onsenji-temple in Gero, Gifu prefecture

We just felt like going for a walk and wanted to go somewhere during our stay in Gero. We took a walk to Onsenji-temple. It was nothing special; a small and quiet temple in the town. .

Long stairs to the temple

Again, here is kadomatsu. I mentioned it yesterday.



Click for the large image

Can you tell what the white pieces on the branches are?

These are written fortunes on small pieces of paper.

You can draw sacred lots to tell your fortunes at temples or shrines. If you draw a good fortune, you take it home with you. If you draw a bad fortune, you tie the paper on a tree at the temple or shrine and leave it there. This is what I’ve heard, but there are some different beliefs. Some people tie the paper whatever fortune he or she draws. But, I don’t care much about this kind of stuff, ha ha ha (^^;;


View from the back of the temple

Omotenashi-spirit, hospitality at Japanese hotel 2

There were some other omomtenashi at Suimeikan.

There were some events and activities for guests.

They had a room for table tennis. Table tennis was a very popular activity at ryokan in the olden days. I don’t see table tennis much at ryokans nowadays. We enjoyed it. My brother and I are pretty good at table tennisψ(｀∇´)ψ

Live jazz at the lounge for free ♪( ´▽｀)

Bingo game at night
We all won some prizes except Hiro, my wife.
Poor Hiro 。・゜・(ノД`)・゜・。

I joined a little tour in the hotel.
They showed some art pieces in the hotel and facilities such as huge banquet room, a hallway for small banquet rooms and the stage for Japanese play called “No”.

During the tour, we passed a tea room. The guide didn’t explain about the tea room. I wish they had served tea at the tea room.

There were some flowers and decorations in the hotel. I think they are a part of their omotenashi.

Kadomatsu, a New Year's decoration made of bamboo and pine branches, literally means gate pines. It is displayed in pairs outside of the main entrance as a gate.

Decorations with rabbit figures at the lobby
Rabbit is the animal of the year.

Flowers around the hotel

Kagami-mochi, a special decoration for New Year made of rice cake.



Flowers in guest rooms

Where is the bedroom in a Japanese-style hotel?

I have been talking about the trip during my New Year holidays and ryokan, Japanese-style hotel.

The rooms for guests at ryokan don’t usually have a bedroom. They are tatami room with a low table and some cushions to sit on, and look like a living room. You won’t find any beds there. You might wonder where to sleep.





Actually, the living room becomes the bedroom. After dinner, staff come to your room. They will move the table aside and lay out futon-beddings. They are used for the operation, and they are fast in doing it.



See, The living room became the bedroom　ヾ(＠⌒ー⌒＠)ノ
Ta-dah!!


We had dinner in our room so the staff came after dinner and arranged futon in front of us. But if you have dinner at hotel’s restaurant, they usually arrange futon during your dinner. You might be surprised when you come back from the restaurant ((((；゜Д゜)))))))


Where did the futon-bedding come from?

Each room has a closet for futon at ryokan. Futon is usually kept in the closet.


I’m sorry about today’s post. It is not relevant to tea. I just wanted to introduce Japanese culture.

Omotenashi-spirit, hospitality at Japanese hotel

今日は雪です。この辺では年に数回しかふらないんだけどね。今日はちょっと積ってきてます(^-^)

I’ll introduce some omotenashi (hospitality) that I found at the ryokan (Japanese-style Hotel).

When we checked in the hotel and got in our room, the maid put our shoes away into the shoebox. She arranged the slippers. Slippers are not allowed in the room. You do not wear any slippers or shoes in a tatami room. The slippers are to walk around in the hotel. In the morning we checked out, without noticing, the maid has already prepared our shoes and returned the slippers in the shoe box.



They have light cotton kimono called yukata for guests. Many guests wear yukata and hang around in the hotel. It can also be a nightwear. They are usually average sized. When we arrived, the maid asked us our height and changed the youkata size for the ones needed. At many ryokan, the sizes you can choose from are limited to S, M and L But at this ryokan, they also have median sizes available. I thought it was a good service.




They also had socks for guest. This service was only for the high-grade rooms, not for the regular rooms. Do you notice the interesting design of the socks? The big toe is separated. This is similar to Japanese traditional socks and I guess it’s to fit Japanese sandals or wooden clogs.



They had a new year’s gift for us. It was a sake cup that is a white porcelain vessel with a golden kanji character. The meaning of character is rabbit, the animal of the year.



The breakfast for the regular room was buffet meal at the hotel’s restaurant. There are not only western meals but also Japanese dishes. What I liked about it was that a chef was making omelet on the demand of guests. I loved the hot and nice omelet. I thought this is a kind of omotenashi of the hotel.




The breakfast for the high-grade rooms was brought and served at our room. Before breakfast, sencha green tea and umeboshi (pickled plum) were served. I don’t know the reason why pickled plum is served with tea. Anyway we waited for breakfast preparation over tea. It was nice omotenashi.

Welcome drink at ryokan, Japanese-style hotel

ずっとサボってたけど今日久しぶりにウォーキングしましたv(^o^)v　三日坊主で終わらなければいいけど。。。

We visited Gero hot spring resort in Gifu prefecture on New Year holidays two years in a row from 2010. We stayed in Sumeikan, a ryokan or Japanese-style hotel. Omotenashi-spirit which means hospitality is valued in The Way of Tea. You can also find omotenashi at ryokan as well. I would like to talk about the trip and ryokan focusing on omotenashi-spirit for a week.



This year, we stayed at Suimeikan for two days, one day at a regular room and a nicer room on the next day. They served tea to welcome guests. Sencha was served at the regular room. Matcha was served at the nicer room. At Suimeikan, tea was prepared in other room and brought to us. At some ryokan, the welcome tea can be prepared by a maid in your room. At some reasonable ryokan, you will find a tea set on the table and prepare the tea yourself.

Sencha with some snacks at the regular room
The tea came in a cup with lid.



Matcha at the higher-grade room