A greeting that reaches out ….

The Japanese are fond of aisatsu (greetings). Ai means “friendship” and satsu means “to draw forth each other’s good qualities through acquaintance”.

The spirit of tea is to do good and not to do evil. It is a greeting that reaches out and seeks the good in others.                                                                                                                                                                                                                

From Soshitsu Sen, Chado. The Japanese Way of Tea (New York, 1979)

Kintsugi

Kintsugi (gold joining) is a Japanese repair technique that takes ceramic destruction and makes a broken object into a new entity. It leaves clear, bold, visible lines with the appearance of solid gold. Using fine lacquer and gold to mark the scars, it never hides the story of the object’s damage … it is an intimate metaphoric narrative of loss and recovery, breakage and restoration, tragedy and the ability to overcome it.  A kintsugi repair speaks of individuality and uniqueness, fortitude and resilience, and the beauty to be found in survival.

From Bonnie Kemske, Kintsugi. The Poetic Mend (London, 2021)

A mountain abode in the city

There is an anecdote about Rikyū at the time he became Jo-o’s disciple. Rikyū went to the garden Jo-o had told him to clean, but the garden had already been thoroughly swept, and there was nothing more for him to sweep. Without hesitation, Rikyū shook a nearby tree, allowing leaves to scatter over the ground. Watching him, Jo-o is said to have praised Rikyū for his sensibility to nature despite his youth. Rikyū felt that a garden with a few leaves scattered about was more tasteful than one where they had been meticulously swept away. This example clearly reveals Rikyū’s sense of wabi. It exemplifies the “mountain abode in the city” wabi-cha ideal.

From Urasenke Chado Textbook (Kyoto, 2011)

Japanese Tea in the woods

 

 

To be one with nature

Saigyo in traditional poetry, Sogi in linked verse, Sesshu in painting, Rikyu in tea ceremony, and indeed all who have achieved real excellence in any art, possess one thing in common, that is, a mind to obey nature, to be one with nature, throughout the four seasons of the year.

From Matsuo Basho 'The Records of a Travel-worn Satchel', translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa in The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (London, 1966).