The other day, I went to the citizens’ tea
ceremony held at the cultural center in my town, Seto. It is casual and pretty much reasonable so
anybody can attend. What interesting
about the cultural center is that there is a nice classic tea room inside a concrete
building. While inside the traditional tea
room, you will forget that you are in the modern building.
When I attended the ceremony last year, I
was disappointed that the heath used was not real charcoal. A charcoal-imitation electric stove was
used. This year again, it was not real
charcoal in the heath. But this time, I
found out the reason behind it. The host
told me that there is a regulation for using fire inside the building. I don’t know if it is for public building or
concrete architecture, anyhow they had to use electric stove. Nevertheless, I still appreciate the nice tea
room and the opportunity for casual tea ceremony.
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Can you see the heath underneath? It has some false charcoal figure with red hot
wire. This is not exactly the one used in the ceremony, but something like
this.
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Posts
I am just curious, when you use charcoal with your teacher, how do you first light the charcoal on fire? My teacher puts them on a gas stove in the preparation area to light them, then transfers them to the hearth. But I am wondering how to do it if there is no easy gas burner to put them on, for example if doing tea outside in a park, or if doing tea in a house that doesn't have a gas stove.
ReplyDeleteI’ll check it with my master to be sure.
DeleteI regret to say that I don’t know any good way to light the first charcoal at the mentioned places. Our master used a gas stove to light the charcoal at home. Also, the tea rooms that she has used have gas stoves. Most of tea rooms seem to have gas stoves. The open air tea ceremonies that I have attended were held near a tea house, so I guess that the lighted charcoals were brought from there. If I want to light charcoal at a park, I will take a portable burner or a firelighter with me. How do you usually light charcoals for outside BBQ or at camping? I'm sorry that I cannot help you about this issue (^^;;
DeleteAh well, thank you for trying to find out! For some reason quite a few people here have electric stoves in their home, although I prefer gas stoves myself. The open air tea ceremonies I have attended that were not near a tea house used canisters of Sterno fluid instead of real charcoal. Usually people in the US use chemical lighter fluids to light charcoals for BBQ in a park or for camping, but those aren't very natural, and I wouldn't want to put such chemicals in a brazier for tea ceremony. So you think a firelighter would be enough to light the charcoal in a brazier? Maybe I will try that next time =)
ReplyDeleteI see. Chemical lighter fluids are used in the US. I understand that you feel unconformable using them for the tea ceremony. I usually use a firelighter for my BBQ. If you don’t want any chemical substances, you could use paper → small pieces of dry wood → small pieces of charcoal in an elemental fashion. It may take time and effort, but it will work (^^;;
DeleteGood luck and enjoy your ceremony!
The reason we do not use charcoal in our tearoom is because it's in a Western-style house with little ventilation. Traditional charcoal gives off carbon monoxide gas. In traditional chashitsu, this is no problem because the sliding screens allow for excellent ventilation. In a confined space, however, it's a health hazard.
ReplyDeleteSo although I would love to learn sumidemae, and we "practice" with unlit charcoal, we will never perform shozumi or gozumi in reality because it is too dangerous!
You are right. You definitely need to consider the ventilation when you use charcoal.
DeleteMy previous teacher often used electric stove for the lesson, and my current teacher always use real charcoal. I love the change of boiling sound as heating power of charcoal changes during temae. I have also used unit charcoal for practice (^-^)
I have been learning Chanoyu for a year now... I am in Australia. My Sensei is from Osaka. I've seen her using both, electrical and real charcoal. I am just beginning to learn Sumideame... unfortunately, here is Australian you can't get the real Japanese charcoal pieces: Dosumi, Tensumi, Wadousumi, etc... She brings them from Japan. I am making fake charcoal shapes, improvised sumitori and other utencils regarding sumidemae... at least to practice. I have been twice to Japan and I love Japanese culture and traditions. I even read about how to make charcoal, so I can get the shapes in charcoal... unfortunately, here in Sydney there are very strong restrictions regarding burning...
ReplyDeleteI think I have seen some of your videos on Youtube and learned quite a lot from then! Keep up the good work! As Zabosai o Yemoto said one. Rikyu begun what is to become a mighty tree (Chanoyu practice) and today the branches of this tree reaches all corners of the World!
ReplyDelete