Tea ceremony at Daitokuji, Kyoto 1

On the 28^th Oct., the second day of our trip to Kyoto, we headed to Daitokuji.  The first place we visited was Gyokurinin, one of the small temples of Daitkuji.  We found the sign for a tea ceremony on the gate.  It was slightly different from what I’ve learned from the internet, “在釜”.  This is “懸釜”, which basically have the same meaning.

We passed through the gate and walked further in Gyokurinin. We finally reached the entrance of the building, and we saw a lot of shoes on the shoe rack.  We talked to a receptionist, and she told us that there were already so many people waiting and we might have to wait for two hours.  Two hours!?  In our surprise, we looked at each other’s faces.  And then, we decided not to wait any longer, and proceed to look for other ceremonies at other temples.    

We left Gyokurinin and walked around Daitokuji.  There are small temples adjacent to each other.  We saw a gate that people in kimono were going in.  I was thinking that the temple of the gate was holding a tea ceremony.  But as I walked to the gate, I found a sign “private”.  We found a couple more gates with the same sign.  I guess that some tea ceremonies might be exclusive. 

As we were walking around, we just visited two temples for sightseeing.  They didn’t have a ceremony, but have absolutely beautiful gardens.  They are not gorgeous but they suit my taste which is simple and natural.  We were quite satisfied visiting the beautiful gardens, and we thought of giving up attending a tea ceremony. 

On the way to the parking lot, I found another gate.  We asked a receptionist if there is a tea ceremony held here.  The receptionist told us that they were holding a ceremony and we could join it.  We were finally able to find the one that we can attend to.  We waited at the waiting room for the next session for about 30 min.   The waiting room was just next to a garden with white gravel.  The historical building and the superb garden raised my expectation to anticipate the ceremony. 

To be continued …