朝茶 ― the morning tea party

It's been long time since we had the fantastic morning tea party at the end of July. It is called 朝茶、the tea party which starts before dawn. My very first experience to attend the real tea party 7 years ago was this asa-cha and I really liked the atmosphere of the summer morning. So this is the second time for me to hold ( and attend ) this summer event. We made a lot of preparation the day before: cooking, cleaning the house, garden, teahouse, everything ―　we even washed stones in the garden and wiped them! It was exhausting work, but was worth doing for having a good tea party. On the tea-party morning, we gathered at 4 o'clock while it was really dark, and enjoyed the dawn and delicious food , tea, also enjoyed serving them as a staff. The sound of the gong to let us know the time to go into the teahouse, beautiful green of the garden, all the beautiful cups and other stuffs, the sound of the iron pot and the smell of the insence, everything was great. I cannot express my feeling well. Ariel, I wished you had been there. Really pity.

ずいぶん時間がたってしまったけど、７月末に先生の原村のお宅で、朝茶というお茶会をやりました。７年前に私が初めて経験した本格的なお茶会も朝茶だったので、なんだかこの行事には、他のお茶会とは違う思い入れがあります。夜が明けていく風景を見ながらの、ゆったりとしたお茶会は本当に最高。薄暗い外で待ちながら、銅鑼の音を聞くのなんて、もうなんとも言いがたい贅沢の極みだし。前日の準備は大変で、全てをお掃除して庭の石までタワシで洗って拭くという念入りなものですが、それだけ念入りにやる価値はあるのです。美しいお庭も、先生のレシピによる見事な懐石も、おごそかな雰囲気のお茶室も、おいしいお茶も、お道具も、お弟子さん達が着物で勢ぞろいした風景も、お香の匂いも、だんだん陽が高くなってまぶしい緑も、写真や文章ではどうやっても当日の雰囲気を伝えきれないのが残念。忘れられない夏の思い出です。