You guys, I'm over the moon! I finally was able to participate in a Japanese Tea Ceremony! As a Vegan it can be pretty tough sometimes to enjoy certain aspects of traditional Japanese culture and food but i think you'll be surprised to learn the Tea Ceremony's best kept secret.... First off: The Context! I have been lucky enough to be chosen as a model for a promotional video for a small company that promotes Japanese cooking lessons and events for foreigners here in Tokyo. We have done several shoots across the city and today was the day we would be filming a Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony in Nippori, at an adorable cafe/antique shop/tea masters called Yuka An. The two ladies who conducted the ceremony were so sweet and helpful and they taught me about different styles of macha as well as about the ancient bowls we would be using for the ceremony from their own antique collection (I chose a bowl that was 370 years old!) The establishment is run by a family, father, daughter and mother, where the father and mother take care of the antiques business and cafe area and the daughter teaches Tea Ceremonies upstairs. Most of their customers for the Tea Ceremony are tourists from abroad and so she has been learning English i order to communicate. The two ladies made me my tea and showed me the correct movements, positions and body language for each individual task- it was a lot more difficult than i had imagined... After they made my tea, they served it to me with a traditional Japanese sweet named 'Mizu Mochi' which is 'water and rice cake'. Its basically a soft, jelly-like rice cake with sweet anko bean paste inside, it was very delicious and they even gave me my own special traditional wooden tool (yeah, i forgot its name...) for cutting the cake that is made from the tree in their garden. I spoke to the tea master about the traditional Japanese sweets and she told me that none of them will contain animal products at a Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony as the sweets are based on Buddhist recipes which will not contain animal-derived ingredients. She did mention that some Tea Masters are not as traditional or may not be as well educated and therefore may serve things like cream mochi but that is a rare scenario.
For those looking to take part and learn about the Japanese tea ceremony, I can't recommend this place enough. The attention to detail and the antique environment makes you feel at peace and as though you've stepped back in time to a simpler time. I'm so grateful! If you have any questions, feedback or comments please feel free to comment below or contact me via social media on my home page or via email on my contact page :) Until next time you guys! xo
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AuthorFitness is a huge part of my life, with my main vices being yoga, running, rock climbing and kick boxing. Archives
October 2018
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