Tea and Teinei @ Daimon-ji Temple, Osaka

The morning began with Dr. Makoto Nakamuro of Kyoto University, hoping down a rocky slope on the site of Daimon-ji Temple - a place whose gardens he hopes to re-imagine. The temple needed to be moved due to a dam project - subsequent flooding would flood the grounds.

Following a site tour, during which time he told us about the old rocks and their importance in the new plan, gesturing to a very large pile rocks.

He announced that the temple caretaker, a Zen priest, would be offering us tea. The initial hospitality shown by Dr. Nakamuro was compounded by an invitation to tea ceremony - chado.

Chado (茶道) - tea ceremony - is one example of the Japanese cultural concept of omotenashi (丁寧) or politeness. Omotenashi - the "public face" - is used to describe how one acts in service to others. While this is most apparent when interacting with someone within a service industry - at a hotel or restaurant - it filters through the culture beyond monetary transactions. This kind of hospitality is freely given. What our group noticed was how patiently people were with our large and loud group at train stations. Chado is one symbol of omotenashi and hospitality in its purest form.

As we crowded into a the room, wall to wall tatami mats covering the floor, fresh camellias in a bowl under an tokonoma scroll on the wall, two little girls, dressed in tiny kimonos popped out from around the corner. They were the grandchildren of the caretaker and would be assisting with tea ceremony. After Dr. Nakamuro showed us a scaled model of the garden's proposed plan and asked our advice on creating low water landscapes like in California (what a kind gesture!), it was time for tea.

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Chado trio

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tea ceremonty

While a full tea ceremony can last hours and involve guests observing the careful preparation by the , this simple offering of a sweet (wagashi) and thick matcha tea (濃茶 / koicha) exemplified nonetheless the four tenants of the way of chado:

Harmony 和 (wa)

Respect 敬 (kei)

Purity (of heart) 清 (sei)

Tranquility 寂 (jaku)

As the grandchildren made their way around the room, each guests was offered wagashi, followed by earthy matcha to balance the sweetness of the desert. As each bowl of tea was placed in front of each of us, the young girls were instructed to turn the bowl around until the its most beautiful side was facing the guest - another important aspect of chado - moving through the process slowing enables each participant to admire the objects used in the ceremony.

"The souls of the guest and host surrender their personal selves and become united with each other. in the reality of this sphere the antimony between soul and body is abolished and grows into harmonious unity. Man himself has now become a soul in the form of art. The separateness of existence and being no longer exists, the soul is freed from the body and man feel himself a solitary being full of meaning and close to the essence of things."

- Toshimitsu Hasumi, Zen in Japanese Art (1962)

The caretaker's family Our experience was a complete surprise and we felt incredibly welcomed and at home - a beautiful way to begin our journey!