| MIKA'S page |
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| I have been given the opportunity to share
my experience of getting back in touch with
my roots ( through Ikkuan) since leaving
Japan at the age of seven. I've stayed in
Singapore for about 17 years ( due to my
parents' business) ,and although I came back
to Japan often, it was always for a short
time, Therefore I didn't have the time to
discover the traditional ways of Japanese
culture or the real beauty of the olden days
until now. My parents own several Japanese
Sushi Kaiseki ( kaiseki is a full course meal ) restaurants in Singapore
which has been going on for about thirty
years, so season by season we also change
the types of food, flowers and plates accordingly.
It's hard for the locals there to understand
the culture and the whys and hows of maintaining
different types of foods and plates. We import
everything from Japan including containers
such as soup bowls, plates, lunch boxes,
trays, green/brown teas and of course food.
It is delivered by plane (cargo) twice a
week, so it is very important for us to let
every customer realize that the season has
changed, especially in Singapore where it
is summer throughout the whole year. We let
them realize and appreciate the change of
season through food and even flower arrangements.Ever
since I was thirteen years old, I've been
helping my parents restaurant during my school
holidays, even by wearing Kimono. During Japanese new year, which is on the
first of January, our policy is to break
the Taruzake ( it's made out of bamboo, filled with sake
) top at seven in the morning and serve every
customer for free. When they prepare dishes
for the new year, the top chef's and my dad
standbys from the day before.Our restaurant
has no off days, except for during chinese
new year, which is only three to four days.
My dad is a total workaholic so he goes to
work everyday and steps into the sushi counter
to entertain customers and at the same time
he makes sushi and goes in to the kitchen
side to taste and teach the cooks. Working
with my parents has kept me in touch with
some aspects of the Japanese culture on the
surface but it has only increased my curiosity
to deepen my understanding about the culture. |
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I am lucky in the sense that I am able to
have this chance to experience
what Ikkuan
has been doing for the
past 30 years. The
history that they treasure
involves an attempt
to send out a message of
heartfelt appreciation
of Japanese culture to
every single person
in the world. They are
looking towards an
international audience
to introduce and teach
Japanese cultural activities,
specializing
in tea ceremony. My sensei
likes the olden
types of culture, which
therefore she treasures
the olden days.
Ever since I came to Ikkuan, I realize that
the beauty of the old culture was still existing
and my Saito Soko sensei ( teacher ) kept holding on to the traditional
atmosphere which we can also relate to the
word wabisabi feeling, which means simplicity, for example:
having a mannered green tea in a dime light
and the sound of the falling water, But that's
just one part of her ways to let the students
and customers feel this culture through sensei's
one heart and we hope it is cherished and
understood by anyone who steps into this
house.
Saito Soko sensei has been doing Tea ceremony
plus teaching students from every different
age groups, cooking lessons and prayer to
food of God (it's just like thanks giving)
and to the Saito's family safety where students
learn how to release their stress or to relax
in this busy country of Japan.
It is very important to let people who has
lost that feeling and touch of the olden
days, even towards Japaneses, especially
the youngsters and even olders. Most of the
youngsters in Japan doesn't know who and
where it's history came from, they only know
that traditional green is suppose to be drank
in this manner or it's too bitter so they
dare not try and get them self involved in
this kind of circle. In the olden days, during
tea ceremony it was very spirit of politeness
exacts that you say what you are expected
to say, and say no more, where my teacher's
tea lessons are pretty similer but she makes
it fun for the students to be more involved
in the world of tea.
She mainly teaches tea to a bunch of students
on every sundays, but she also handles students
who wants to learn all sorts of Japanese
tradition food with the help of her husband
and son. When there is Asacha, she comes up with different kinds of dishes
and we all move according to her menu and
the matching of plates, trays, bowls and
etc..., so for us to stundby, we have to
wake up about two hours before the reservation,
where everyday she comes up with her own
menu and we all move according to her recipies.
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As I discovered in this Ikkuans' tea teaching
time, every space of tatami space and lines are very important. Every
space has a meaning which is considered as
one room, where the tea bowl has to be placed
and the manner of japanese tibits, even though
they don't have a sliding door which is made
out of thick paper and divition by wood and
each space has square lines where it's important
to place water, where to sit, where to place
the made tea and if the master says on the
fifth lines, then you have got to place everyones
confectionery.
Ikkuan is a very extra ordinary, they have
lots of originality and creative ideas and
design. I beleive that she might be the only
one that mix matches her tea powder bowl
lid |
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As I discovered in this Ikkuans' tea teaching
time, every space of tatami space and lines are very important. Every
space has a meaning which is considered as
one room, where the tea bowl has to be placed
and the manner of japanese tibits, even though
they don't have a sliding door which is made
out of thick paper and divition by wood and
each space has square lines where it's important
to place water, where to sit, where to place
the made tea and if the master says on the
fifth lines, then you have got to place everyones
confectionery.
Ikkuan has a lot originality
My teacher is trying to let youngsters know
the old culture, she is strick but yet has
the heart of understanding and youngness
towards everyone, and in her own way she
adjust to the new generation. As I've been
living with her, her energy, strength and
cheerfulness never changes. For this coming
21st century, she says ' it's give and give
- not give and take ', I totally agree with
her, and with her energy, my life adds to
another perspective way. I admire her courage
and guts to introduce what she has been doing
for the past thirty years to the world. |
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@@@@@@Tea began as a form of medicine where
concentrated tea balls were created to be
scraped and eaten. From there it evolved
into a powder form which could then be diluted
with hot water. This liqued they discovered
could be drunk, thus it grew into a beverage
in China, in the eighth century. It then
entered the realm of aesthetics as one of
the polite amusements. The fifteenth century
saw Japan raising its status to a religion
of aestheticism - which means teaism. Teaism
is a cult founded on the adoration of beauty
among the sordid facts of everyday existence.
It incorporates purity and harmony, the mystery
of mutual charity, and the romanticism of
the social order. It emphasizes hygiene,
for it promotes cleanliness; and economics,
for it shows comfort in simplicity rather
than in the complex and costly.
The long isolation of Japan from
the rest
of the world, so conductive to
introspection,
has been highly favorable to
the development
of teaism. The home and habits,
costume and
cuisine, porcelain, lacquer,
painting- their
very literature- all have been
subject to
it's influence - all have been
subject to
it's influence. No student of
Japanese culture
could ever ignore it's presence.
After the
year 879 the main sources of
revenue in China
( in Canton ) were the duties
on salt and
Tea. Marco Polo records the deposition
of
a chinese minister of finance
in 1285 for
his arbitrary augmentation of
the tea tayes.
It was during that time when
European people
discoved the greats and began
to know more
about the extreme orient. Japanese
Green
tea started from about five hundred
years
ago from mainly China. And now
they have
dark tea and light tea, depending
on the
tea ceremony foods.
Today's tea ceremony is often
thought of
as something young girls learn
to prepare
for marriage or an opportunity
for polite
socializing, and these days even
guys started
to have interest in manner wise
and tea ceremony.
The tea ceremony is a condensed,
estheticized
version of ordinary life. It
flourished in
a period of frequent internal
warfare, emerging
when warriors who spent all their
time fighting
had lost the opportunity for
a happy and
peaceful home life.
There is a phrase that my teacher
often uses,
which is ichigoichie ( the only encounter in a lifetime ) is
hakedneyed today, but it had
poignant meaning
for the warriors of former times.
Even today,
no one knows whether they will
be alive tomorrow
or not. In our peaceful times,
we are fairly
sure that tomorrow will come,
and we feel
no need to fight for our future.
One can
fight in a meaningful way, but
however, cutting
away one's own pride, vanity,
and self-satisfaction
and other useless emotions. By
placing importance
on the now which never returns
it is possible
to have ideal relationships with
other people.
This is what I see as the true
purpose of
the tea ceremony - from the heart
you pay
your respect and appriciate.
Tea is a work of art and needs
a master hand
to bring out its noblest qualities.
we have
good tea and bad tea, as we have
good and
bad paintings - generally the
latter. There
is no single recipe for making
a perfect
tea, as there are no rules for
producing
a titian or a session. Each preparation
of
the leaves has its individuality,
its special
affinity with water and heat.
Tea has uts
periods and its schools just
like art. its
evolution may be roughly divided
into three
main stages : the boiled tea,
the whipped
tea and the stepped tea. These
several methods
of appreciating the beverage
are indicative
of the spirit of the age in which
they prevailed.
School of tea might be around
the world today,
but to be tought from the right
master is
extremly important.
They have this game called "
Kagetsu " and only four people can play which
they all have to pick one " fuda " which is made out of wood and each
wood has different kinds of desine's and
words on it where they speak out their own
pictures and letters. That's how they all
take turns to be the tea maker or the drinker.
Wakeiseijaku:
Chado - literally means the way of tea or Chanoyu, widely known as the "Tea Ceremony"
and has been recognized as a way of life,
cultural achievement - which holds an aura
of mystery for many people, but its governing
impulse is simple: a small number of friends
come together to spend several hours in a
part taking of a meal,drinking tea and enjoying
a brief respite from the busyness of daily
concerns. Guests enter the quiet,intimate
space of the tea room, which is faded (or
you can say shaded) from any glaring light.A
few flowers are arranged in a simple manner
in a vase due to seasons. The philosophy
of Chad :
1. Harmony ( Wa ) - This is the harmony between two people,
of people with nature, and the harmony of
the tea utensils and the manner in which
they are used. In Chado, a host chooses utensils, flowers and scroll
to match the season, and depending on the
time of the year, uses either a portable
brazier or a sunken heart.
2. Respect (Kei ) - Respect is paid to all things and comes
from sincere feelings of gratitude for their
being. The hospilitality of the host, concerns
of the guests for each other and the host,
and the careful handling of the utensils
exemplify this respect.
3. Purity ( Sei ) - It implies both worldly and spiritual
cleanliness. When the host cleans his utensils
he is simultaneously purifying his heart
and the mind through his total concentration
on his task.
4. Tranquility ( Jaku ) - It is the peace of mind which comes
with the realization of the first three principles
: wa, kei and sei.
From 1874 Chanoyu itself had been confronted
with one of its most endangering tests -
the Meiji government's decided to classify
it as a "Performing Art ", Tea
ceremony ( asaja ) is just like art itself - combination
of colors of plate and bowls. Living art
( including India,China ) was one of asia,
that the diverse cultures of asia were unified
at their roots. At that time Japan served
as a treasure of art, a " Museum of
Asiatic Civilization " with treasures
from the range of history. So Chanoyu might be seen as the living synthesis of
traditional arts, as a symbol
for explaining
the Asian concept of art, may
have been following
in the footsteps of the great
tea masters
of the past.
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i.Asacha / Asachaji ( morning tea ceremony with a grade up breakfast
) where students or customers
come and enjoy
the delicated food with
thick tea and at
the end of dessert where
thin tea is served
individually - this is
mostly done during
Summer because in that
season around noon
it is hot temperature so
therefore we start
around six or seven O'clock
in the morning
so that the temperature
is still cool and
we don't feel the hotness..
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In between autum and winter, the way they
presents her cooking style changes, where
she uses traditional pot(kama) in a surtern space in the tatami room, this
is named lobiraki, which means rice is made in a certian way,
below the tatami.
This is the traditional ways of presenting
tea ceremony with kaiseki during this time of the months. |
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CAFEORE
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Funsui is something like a 'natural nature',
where
another part of senseis' strong point in
her cooking pattern as well as |
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