Tea Ceremony at the NAF Atsugi Spring Festival

My friend and tea ceremony sensei, Sumie, asked two months ago whether I would like to help out with the NAF Atsugi Base 2023 Spring Festival, the first since Covid. I thanked her very much and said yes, absolutely, and with great delight!

Practicing as winter turns to spring

Since then, every week or two I visited the exquisite tea room in her home or drove to the base library to practice table-style tea ceremony with a couple other students. Some days the sun poured in through the windows while the fresh green branches in Sumie’s tea garden whipped wildly in the spring wind. Other days the heavy, broom-like branches of towering pine trees stood watch like sentinels outside the library window. The weather is another guest at tea, since tea utensils are selected specifically to heighten appreciation of each season and atmosphere.

Watching other students make tea is a treat (plus there’s the bonus of sweets and fresh matcha). Practicing is an exercise in not smacking myself in the forehead for forgetting the movement I practiced five times the night before, or realizing I’d been practicing completely incorrectly.

“It’s ok, most Japanese people don’t know tea, so they don’t know if you make a mistake,” Sumie said. But I was less concerned with what guests thought and more hoping to work hard enough to show Sumie how much I appreciate her teaching. She is the frame through which I see Japanese culture, from the first MWR tours she guided us on, to Bon Odori and Awa Odori participation, to serving Japanese tea. Alas, I am a poor student. But at least most people enjoying tea wouldn’t notice.

The festival day dawns

Saturday came, the day of the festival! Despite traffic, the kids and I finally arrived and Sumie’s friend’s mom, who is a professional kimono-wrapper, dressed me in one of Sumie’s formal kimonos. First, the towels around the waist make the appropriate Japanese cylindrical shape, then the under-layer, the water-like silk formal outer later, the shimmering metallic obi, and finally silk cords and flourishes I forget the names of—this gorgeous kimono is truly a masterpiece.

Walking over to the tea area was the most challenging part of the day. Partway there I realized in my haste I’d left my bag with my red silk fukusa—essential for tea ceremony—in the fitting room. Eloise raced back to get it for me.

Time to make tea!

The next two hours we served tea, cleared tea bowls, served sweets on lacquered trays, posed for photos, played assistant to the person making tea, and, of course, made tea for guests again and again. I LOVE making tea.

The moment the lid comes off the natsume lacquered tea container the aroma of matcha wafts into the air. Sometimes, in a still room, the slightest puff of green smoke trails skyward like an offering. The smooth bamboo chashaku (scoop) sits lightly in my right hand before moving on to the long-handled bamboo hishaku (ladle). There’s a moment when the steaming hot water catches the light as it trickles into the chawan (tea bowl)—during these times I forget to worry about whether I’m doing it correctly because the process itself is so dazzling. And as the chasen (tea whisk) creates a flurry of foam on top of the tea, I hope the guest enjoys this special bowl of tea with love.

Chris was in Hawaii, but where were the kids?

Isaac and Eloise did not enjoy their special bowls of tea filled with love and matcha. But I know the more they taste it, the more likely they are to enjoy it in the future with good memories stamped deep in their brains and taste buds. Later, Eloise had a sweet, milky matcha and said she liked it very much. It’s a start anyway. I gave them some money after they finished their sweets and off they went to enjoy the carnival games and inflatable fun.

When it was all over, I said goodbye to the other students, to Sumie and Madori, to the Japanese sponsor of the tea event, and went to change out of the beautiful kimono. But I’d forgotten that my red fukusa was still tucked into my obi, so a surprised Japanese lady stopped me to chat about how she also took tea ceremony lessons. I wish we could have shared tea!

The kids and I got a very late lunch and checked out the static helicopter displays. Then we were beat so we drove in circles around the freeway, frustrated and lost for awhile, before finally getting on the route home. We were quite tired and weary when we got home, but of course that’s nothing a little tea can’t fix!!

Thank you, Sumie, for letting me participate!