Tea Ceremony Quotes

“We're supposed to strive for harmony, and that's what the art of tea is supposed to accomplish... but harmony is very, very difficult to achieve in this country. Tea ceremony is powerless. But it's also not such a bad thing either. You should enjoy it while you can.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice ... yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible.”
― Lafcadio Hearn, Lafcadio Hearn's Japan: An Anthology of his Writings on the Country and Its People

“Eating a meal in Japan is said to be a communion with nature. This particularly holds true for both tea and restaurant kaiseki, where foods at their peak of freshness reflect the seasonal spirit of that month. The seasonal spirit for November, for example, is "Beginning Anew," because according to the old Japanese lunar calendar, November marks the start of the new tea year. The spring tea leaves that had been placed in sealed jars to mature are ready to grind into tea. The foods used for a tea kaiseki should carry out this seasonal theme and be available locally, not flown in from some exotic locale.
For December, the spirit is "Freshness and Cold." Thus, the colors of the guests' kimonos should be dark and subdued for winter, while the incense that permeates the tearoom after the meal should be rich and spicy. The scroll David chose to hang in the alcove during the tea kaiseki no doubt depicted winter, through either words or an ink drawing. As for the flowers that would replace the scroll for the tea ceremony, David likely would incorporate a branch of pine to create a subtle link with the pine needle-shaped piece of yuzu zest we had placed in the climactic dish. Both hinted at the winter season and coming of New Year's, one of David's underlying themes for the tea kaiseki. Some of the guests might never make the pine needle connection, but it was there to delight those who did.”
― Victoria Abbott Riccardi, Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto

“Because this tea kaiseki would be served so soon after breakfast, it would be considerably smaller than a traditional one. As a result, Stephen had decided to serve each mini tea kaiseki in a round stacking bento box, which looked like two miso soup bowls whose rims had been glued together. After lifting off the top dome-shaped cover the women would behold a little round tray sporting a tangle of raw squid strips and blanched scallions bound in a tahini-miso sauce pepped up with mustard. Underneath this seafood "salad" they would find a slightly deeper "tray" packed with pearly white rice garnished with a pink salted cherry blossom. Finally, under the rice would be their soup bowl containing the wanmori, the apex of the tea kaiseki. Inside the dashi base we had placed a large ball of fu (wheat gluten) shaped and colored to resemble a peach. Spongy and soft, it had a savory center of ground duck and sweet lily bulb. A cluster of fresh spinach leaves, to symbolize the budding of spring, accented the "peach," along with a shiitake mushroom cap simmered in mirin, sake, and soy.
When the women had finished their meals, we served them tiny pink azuki bean paste sweets. David whipped them a bowl of thick green tea. For the dry sweets eaten before his thin tea, we served them flower-shaped refined sugar candies tinted pink.
After all the women had left, Stephen, his helper, Mark, and I sat down to enjoy our own "Girl's Day" meal. And even though I was sitting in the corner of Stephen's dish-strewn kitchen in my T-shirt and rumpled khakis, that soft peach dumpling really did taste feminine and delicate.”
― Victoria Abbott Riccardi, Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto

“Nei giorni di pioggia, ascolta la pioggia. Nei giorni di neve, guarda la neve. In estate apprezza il caldo, in inverno, il freddo che gela le ossa... Qualsiasi giorno, godilo pienamente per quello che è. Il tè è questo modo di vivere.”
― Noriko Morishita, Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture

“I think that the essence of the tea ceremony lies in how sincere you are toward your guests.
Human life is a fragile thing. We may be alive and kicking right now, but we could die at any moment. That's why you have to put your heart and soul into the way you treat your guests, and conduct yourself as if it's the last time you'll ever see them.
The tea ceremony is a practice through which you show your consideration to others. The manners and utensils are all part of that.
That's why I think people who brag about how expensive their utensils are, or who take pride in the fact that they know the right manners, do not understand the spirit of the tea ceremony.
Putting your heart and soul into it means you must get rid of all vanity. And that's why the governing aesthetic of the tea ceremony is to get rid of what's non-essential, in order to pursue the essence of things.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“La cerimonia del tè è conoscere, sperimentandole fisicamente, l'estetica e la filosofia esistenziali dei giapponesi, il loro seguire i cicli delle stagioni.”
― Noriko Morishita, Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture

“Ciò cui mirano sia la scuola che il tè è la crescita della persona. Però, con una importante differenza: a scuola ci si confronta con l'altro, mentre nella cerimonia del tè, ci si confronta con il se stesso di ieri.”
― Noriko Morishita, Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture

“C'è anche chi dice: «Il tè è la bellezza formale della vita di un tempo». «E' il culmine delle arti giapponesi», pensano altri. Qualcuno, poi, ha scritto: «E' la religione della bellezza, nella quale si mira al vuoto attraverso la tenace pratica dell'otemae». «Un concentrato di saggezza esistenziale, incentrata sulle stagioni». «Uno stile zen»... Il tè ammette qualsiasi interpretazione. E allora anche alla mia visione corrisponde un mondo del tè. Forse il tè è un riflesso di ciascuno: ci sono tanti tè quante persone.”
― Noriko Morishita, Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture

“Tea is the soothing potion that turns "calm down" into "chai down." It's like a warm hug in a cup, a liquid oasis in a world of chaos. Sip by sip, it transforms stress into serenity, worry into wonder. With its aromatic steam rising, it whispers, "Relax, rejuvenate, and refill your cup of sanity." So, let's raise our mugs and toast to tea—the humble hero of hydration, the aromatic ally of afternoon delight.”
― Life is Positive