The Japanese Tea Ceremony Experience (English Text)

We have created a new experience valid both for Italians 

visiting Lucca and for foreign tourists.

Its name is The Japanese Tea Ceremony Experience.

You can book the experience directly by email (and pay 20 euros for person cash on arrival or with Paypal online payment) or book through the Airbnb site and pay 25 euros for person at booking by credit card.

Airbnb - The Japanese Tea Ceremony

The experience consists of meeting of about an hour in which a single person or a group of up to five persons comes to the headquarters of the Jaku Tea Ceremony School in Lucca (Piazza Curtatone 147) to immerse themselves in the magical atmosphere of traditional Japan and of the ancient art of Chanoyu. 

You will be welcomed by our Tea Teacher, dressed in the traditional kimono, who will give you a little theoretical introduction on the tea ceremony in Japan (in Italian, or foreign tourists, in English) and will then accomodate you in the tatami room to assist at the tea ceremony (moment of usucha or koicha at the guest' choice). 

You can sample a traditional Japanese dessert and drink a cup of matcha, ritually prepared. At the end of the ceremony, the Tea Teacher will answer all the questions and you can prepare another cup of matcha yourself!

To partecipate you need to book one day in advance. The days on which the ceremony takes place are Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday: you can choose a time between the following start times: 10.30/12.00/16.00/18.00/21.00, and Friday start times: 16.00 - 18.00 - 21.00.

Those who want to book must bring with them a pair of clean white socks to wear and the ladies must take off their jewelry and tie the hair if are long.

The experience is to sit on your knees, whoever has problem can let us know before so the School can arranges for a chair. 

It is an experience not to be missed in order to feel immersed in the atmosphere of traditional Japan in Italy!

American review of our tea ceremony demonstration - Recensione americana della nostra dimostrazione di cerimonia del tè

Siamo internazionali!
La nostra dimostrazione di cerimonia del tè ha fatto il giro del mondo ed è stata recensita persino in America!

We're worldwide!
Our tea ceremony demonstration has been around the world and it has even been reviewed in America!

Orgogliosi con - Proud with:
Hitomi Matsumoto - Naoyoshi Itani - Hiromi Ogawara

Qui la recensione completa in inglese / Here the complete review in English:

Japan´s Glory at the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte | Revista Ven América

Japan´s Glory at the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte With the Original Tea Ceremony Viareggio (Versilia–Tuscany).– The Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte, based in…

REVISTAVENAMERICA.COM

Mawaribana -廻り花 (English post)

September is the right month to do Mawaribana: one of the "Seven Lessons".
In this lesson all the students and also the host make a little chabana with the flowers provided by the School and make a composition usually inside a three windows bamboo hanaire.
To give you an idea I took from Internet he below picture so you can see a typical setting.

All the students and the host alternate themselves to make a little floral composition and repeat this for three times changing the first compositions with the latest until the end of the lesson. 

The host come in the room doing sorè with the tray of flowers set up as in the top picture. Then she goes to set it inside tokonoma where it will be set up an empty hanaire but with the water inside. 

The students, starting from the first, will turn to create small chabana, filling each one window of the flower pot and helping themselves with knife to cut the flowers at the right height. Then it will be the turn of the host and again the students up to three cycles. It is normal to different compartments according to the cycle as it's normal the it once the flower pot is full, the students or host must remove flowers to replace their small composition. At the end the host will pour some water inside each window and take away the tray with the flowers not used, waste and the discarded flowers that the students have taken out of the flower pot. 

  

It's important to remember some basic rules:

1) the flowers are first adjusted on the hands and not directly in the flower pot, and this is also true for measuring the right height of the composition. 

2) Care should be taken when cutting the flower's stems with the knife because it is usually very sharp and it is very easy tu cut ourself. 

3) First remove the previous flowers and the pick the new flowers and create composition. In the tallest compartment, if possible, try not to let the flowers out of the topo but only from the "window". Higher flowers usually go to the upper compartment. 

4) It is possible to use the same flowers in different compositions but the variety is preferable.

5) Once you remove an old composition or relay on the trimmings of the stems of the used flowers, you should care to put them next to the other flowers on the tray, try to bring them together as in a "single deck".

6) The tray is carried with two hands holding it on both sides. 

7) When making floral composition you follow the simple rules of chabana.

Below a picture of a beautiful painting that shows just this lesson. 

Camellias Festival 2017 - Tsubaki Matsuri 2017 (English post)

As already know from my previous post, also this year, we were guests of the Camellias Festival (Tsubaki Matsuri) in Sant'Andrea di Compito (LU) to make  chanoyu demonstrations, open to the public, in the wonderful frame of the floral park of Villa Orsi.

We did three demonstrations for day for two Saturdays in consecutive weeks; the first Saturday we simply arranged with a pedestal tatami and a furo. Guests sat around on simple benches equipped with tables and the set was decorated with a classic Japanese umbrella. The last Saturdays, however, we managed to set up a "treppiedi" stand of bamboo from which to tilt the chains that would support the kama, according to the classic outdoor setting, and then we have done our demonstration in the "winter brazier version ".

They were attended by many guests, both times, of all nationalities, and for us this has been a source of great pride. I leave you now with some photos.

Rikyuki: chanoyu of Sen No Rikyu commemoration

Like most of those who do already tea ceremony know, Sen no Rikyu is the founder of "modern" Japanese tea ceremony, the chanoyu as we know it today. He is, of course, the key figure, for all chado practitioners and was a man of great respect.

During its anniversary he is commemorated with a special tea ceremony called Rikyuki 利 休 忌 who often adding some variations as the seven lessons which I will discuss in depth in other posts.

There is much confusion on the exact day of the commemoration of Sen No Rikyu depending if you see the ancient calendar or the modern, some are celebrating at the end of February while others at the end of March.

I respect the commemoration date used by Omotesenke School to which I belong: on March 28.

Using commemorate our "founder" doing to its image in the scroll, hanging in the tokonoma, an offer of a ritual tea bowl. This bowl is prepared as you would the noble or important monks (he was actually a monk), namely with the aid of a pedestal to put under the cup, called tenmoku dai. The bowl that we use is, infact, a strictly tenmoku style bowl in black or white. After the teacher has prepared the bowl she system it out of its tatami where the first guest take it to bring in the tokonoma, as an offering to the Master.

After we complete this procedure we do the usual ceremony of tea usucha where all guests are served.

This occasion is not only important for the technical gestures, but also, and above all, to remind us that we are following the way: a way that is only superficially technical, but in reality is more complex if you want to live every day with the right spirit of chado practitioners.

What is a tea ceremony?

Some people ask me what really is a tea ceremony. It’s quite difficult to explain. Tea ceremony in the West means the way of serving tea in the East, which varies from Country to Country. This way, depending on the place, can be extremely ritualized and very complex. Sometimes the art of serving tea includes artistic knowledge in various fields of cultural arts of the Country of which we are practicing ceremonial. Some types of ceremonies are rather informal so that in the same Country of origin are not defined ceremonies, but are seen as the correct way of serving tea. One example is China, where the tea ceremony is called gongfucha which literally means "tea in the best way." The gongfucha is so informal, not only depending on the areas where it is operating, but also by the same people who practice it and has very few fixed rules.

A special case is made from Korea and especially Japan. In Korea, the tea ceremony is divided in ceremony for the leaf tea ceremony and tea powder. Both ceremonies are quite similar to its Japanese, but retain more lightness and a more informal tone that have certainly adopted by the Chinese style. The darye Korean, albeit very ritualized, has much less stiffness than the Chanoyu.

In Japan, the tea ceremony is divided in ceremony for Sencha (leaf tea) called Senchado and ceremony for tea matcha (powder tea) called Chanoyu. The Chanoyu ceremony is the most complex and ritualized existing and is the sum of the Japanese arts. Consequently in Japan (but not only there ) it is held in high esteem. Chanoyu means "hot water for tea" and this is a maximum of the master considered the founder of the ceremony itself, which has marked the ritual as it stands today, and called Sen No Rikyu. A run schools of tea ceremony in Japan today are the descendants of the Master. The Chanoyu is often called by the name of Chado which literally means "Way of Tea". "Way" in Japanese is the path of the life of a 'whole life that the follower learns this art, perfect, practical and, later, teaches and serves to guide the choices and building throughout its life. It 'very difficult to explain in words what is the sum of the arts, gestures and rituals contained in a tea ceremony: it is much better, initially, to learn it by practice: before watching the demonstrations and, later, trying lessons.

If you’re interested in to try our tea ceremony lessons please write to: letiziadelmagro@gmail.com

Pumidor

Tutti gli amanti del puerh prima o poi si chiedono come conservarlo al meglio per far sì che il suo aroma caratteristico e il suo grande valore (specie per i cakes già abbastanza invecchiati) non si disperdano.

Le condizioni per l'invecchiamento e la corretta conservazione del puerh sono di mantenerlo in un ambiente privo di odori, mediamente ventilato, ad una temperatura media costante intorno ai 22/25 gradi e con un'elevatissima umidità (tra il 75 e l'80 %).

Queste condizioni, da noi in Italia ( e in generale in Europa) non sono comuni quindi l'unica soluzione che abbiamo è creare un pumidor cioè un umidificatore (humidor) da puerh.

Il mio pumidor è molto "casalingo" (non sono un'esperta di fai da te!), ma per il momento funziona. 

Ho scelto un baule in legno non dipinto che chiudesse bene e non avesse buchi. Col trapano ho fatto un piccolo buchetto lateralmente al coperchio per far passare i fili della ventola.

Ho sistemato all'interno un igrometro (controlla temperatura e umidità) e una piccola ventola collegata alla corrente (di quelle da sigari). Poi ho messo un piccolo umidificatore da sigari, ma mi sono accorta ben presto che per un baule così grande l'umidificatore era inadeguato e ho deciso di rinforzare l'umidità aggiungendo un contenitore con tre spugne naturali che ogni giorno inzuppo di acqua depurata.

Non serve tenere un contenitore di acqua all'interno poiché non evaporerebbe: ci vogliono necessariamente delle spugne imbevute. L'importante in questi casi è ricordarsi di lavare le spugne ogni giorno per evitare il prolificare di batteri. Usando acqua depurata non si forma calcare che potrebbe ostruire la porosità della spugna. In alternativa potete usare un vero umidificatore come quelli per ambienti. Per la temperatura ho risolto mettendo il baule vicino ad un termosifone.

Ed ecco l'interno del mio pumidor casalingo.

Qui invece una panoramica della mia personale collezione di pu'er...

Star of Bulang 2007 (English Version)

It's a long time since I updated this blog, but a little the end of the lessons of tea ceremony and a little my work, I momentarily neglect my great love for this wonderful drink. Two days ago, thanks to the bad weather, I decided to open a new cake of puerh tea. I really wanted a sheng, but my last trusty cake of Menghai 7532 was finish so I went in my pumidor to look for something and I decided finally to try "Star of Bulang" Guoyan 701 of the 2007 vintage. Came to me in 2008 (very young), I storage until now in my pumidor, so in a moderate heat and medium / dry humidity (65% on average). Despite the degree of humidity is not one of the best, the cake has maintained intact its fragrance.

This cake is composed entirely of material from Bulang spring, but only partially from wild trees. It has a medium compression, with a medium-bodied flavor, but a long finish. The aftertaste is sweet and clean and you can also define overall a great tasting cake. The liquid is pale gold. It has excellent quality / price ratio. So I would say that it is a good buy for those who want to drink now and for those who want to age for future consumption.