ブックタイトルa-history-of-international-exchanges00

概要

a-history-of-international-exchanges00

- 147 -bowl for powdered green tea) for each students. The number of the set of thesetools amounted to more than ten. The most troublesome task for me was toprepare every week the cakes in season. Usually I prepared the dryconfectionery in the shapes of a petals of cherry blossom, a water ring, a leaf ofa maple tree, but sometimes I ordered the famous kind of cakes from all overJapan. At the end of the class, the manner was taught to pick the main cakein season from the bowl to the paper napkin by using chopsticks, while theywere reviewing how to use chopsticks. Various kinds of cakes were very popularamong students.The first barrier for the tea ceremony learners was Seiza ---‘the formal wayof sitting on tatami.’ I first taught the students how to recover from thenumbness, but there were those who could not stand up after sitting for a longtime. They gradually mastered the technique of dispersing their weight.Before they finished learning a series of manner for ‘Procedure of Bonryaku,’they could kneel formally for a long time.The bitter taste of powdered green tea was neutralized by the sweet cakes,but a student from Keyna said in an undertone that he wanted a spoonful ofsugar. At his first try of drinking powdered green tea, he mixed green tea anda spoonful of sugar with a tea whisk. He never came to the class again. Abitter, bitter memory both for him and me!The most difficult barrier for the learners was the handling of the fukusa (asilk cloth). This technique looks like a magic show. But by Takei’s magic (?),the studnts rather easily learned it. Some students spoke highly of myteaching technique. That’s not true. It was because there were many goodstudents who were quick to learn. You can understand that by the followingphotos:＜Handling of Fukusa＞ ＜Whiskering with a Chasen＞