2012年11月22日 13:56
But can you hear the sound of water?
One afternoon, I received from shachō-san two tickets to attend tea ceremony at Zuiho-in the next day. Hardly able to control my excitement, I almost jumped in the air - perhaps not the most usual way of expressing gratitude.
Zuiho-in is one of the twenty-four subtemples of Daitoku-ji, which is known as the head temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. Also, it has been a centre for tea ceremony for centuries, being associated with Sen no Rikyu, one of the most influential tea masters, whose teachings have created the tea ceremony as it is known today.
Sen no Rikyu believed in wabi-sabi, finding beauty in simplicity. He was among the first to show preference for unpretentious, seemingly rustic utensils that were made in Japan, rather than expensive and extravagant ones imported from China. Just as well, the way he was designing the tea rooms or choosing the tea bowls and the decorative objects followed the same principles, which left a profound influence on all of the tea schools to come after him.
We couldn' t find the temple on our first try and, after circling around the area for some time, I wasn't feeling exceedingly zen when we arrived. But I was really glad that my friend had managed to make it to Kyoto that day, and when we finally passed through the beautiful, 500-years-old gate, all my anxiety disappeared.
Learning that there was plenty of time left for us to participate in the ceremony, we sat down for a while, admiring the beautiful dry landscape gardens designed by Shigemori Mirei. Having acquired a peaceful frame of mind, we were introduced to the young ladies studying the art of tea. The thought of a very formal, strict ceremony and the embarrassing mistakes that I was bound to make had worried me all day long, so I was relieved to hear that this was not the case. More than that, we were guided all throughout our experience by a very gracious student, who answered my myriad of questions patiently and thoroughly.
I was impressed by the graceful way the hosts of the ceremony would conduct each of their movements, and felt a great inspiration to practice every day, in order to get closer to this ideal.
We were served delicious wagashi, Japanese sweets decorated with seasonal motives, and delighted ourselves with the strong, pure flavour of the frothy matcha tea. I'd had this type of tea many times before, and I'd participated in the tea ceremony, both as an observer and as an assistant to the host. But this time I was able to fully immerse myself in the experience, and I couldn't help but dream of the great tea masters that had conducted ceremonies in that very room over the centuries. Perhaps even Sen no Rikyu himself used to prepare his tea right in that spot, not more than three metres away...
My thoughts had taken me too far, as I am fairly sure that only the gates and the main hall have survived from the original setting of the temple. I remembered one of Sen no Rikyu's famous poems:
The tea had taken me with it, and quite far at that, but I didn't even think of complaining.
After the ceremony concluded with the ritual purification of the utensils, we were able to appreciate them from a closer distance. The bowls (chawan) were spectacular, as well as chashaku - the utensil used for scooping tea out of natsume - the laquered wood receptacle that encases the matcha powder. After taking the time to admire the scrolls displayed in tokonoma and expressing our gratitude to the hosts, we visited the rest of the temple and delighted ourselves with the sight of the gardens.
As we still had time, we decided to visit Daisen-in temple as well, to admire one of the most famous Zen gardens in Japan, created through a very precise arrangement of gravel, stone, moss and small trees. Luckily, we were provided with an English guidebook, in order to understand and better appreciate the subtle beauty and overwhelming force exuding from the landscape. Just as well, we were kindly requested to turn off our cameras, in order to allow ourselves to fully experience the peaceful atmosphere of the gardens and the temple.
The afternoon began fading into evening as we were following the course of the river flowing into the ocean, so we only managed to catch a glimpse of the main hall and the beautiful painted screens, just before the evening meditation began.
Which makes me wish to go there again, and visit some of the other sub-temples of Daitoku-ji as well!