#8_Introduction of Tea Diplomacy in Israel

Posted by Tal, the Representative of Sakura Cha Meet, Israel

Original blog post in Hebrew here

The Japanese Tea Ceremony is not just tea and not just ceremony, it is a deep display of the Japanese culture and tradition, it is a way to achieve tranquility, it is a way to create harmony between people, between the participants in the ceremony.

It is not just Tea 

It is not just Tea because the drinking of the tea might be the purpose, but the ceremony focuses on the way to reach it, and the Way has its rules, because they are what creates a ceremony, and there are values behind every rule, and it refers naturally to Japanese values.

So what's the tea ceremony?

There is no rush, the time is not an issue along the ceremony. The tools should be handled and prepared, the cups, the pot, the green Matcha powder, which is prepared out of ground tea leaves and mixed in hot water in order to make the tea. Important is the way by which the cup is handled, how it is handed to the person who will drink from it. The cup has its decorated side and it will be given with that side facing the receiver, he will observe it, appreciate it and then will turn the beautiful side to the host.

No, there is no tea spoon for mixing the Matcha in the water, that might tap on the sides of the cup, there is a special tool, made of whisks, with which the ingredients are stirred gently, in quietness. 

There is also the way to drink the tea when it is ready and a way to display the appreciation for its taste, for the pleasure from the drinking and for the beauty in the ceremony. 

There is the one who prepares and serves and there is the one who receives and sips, each one of them subordinates himself to the way by which the things should be performed, each one shows his appreciation to the other one.

Harmony, the central concept of tea ceremony 

Behind all that stands the Japanese attitude that glorifies harmony, and for it, for the Wa, each person is expected to lower himself, to minimize his presence, to leave more space to the other person, to leave more space to the togetherness. The idea is that when every single person minimizes his presence, when the one leaves more space to the many, when the one leaves more space to the others, no disturbances are created and harmony is enabled between all the ones who are present.

For the sake of that purpose are important also the rules, there are rules how to present a business card, how to present oneself and, of course, how to perform a Tea Ceremony. The man puts aside the way by which he would have chosen to do it and instead he obeys to the rules that pass along the generations, he obeys to the tradition. When all the participants act according to the rules Harmony is created, if you like you may call it Tea Ceremony Harmony.

Harmonize yourself

The Tea Ceremony also serves the individual within himself. The Japanese approach is that when a man act according to the rules and the rites, when he imposes on himself the way to do things and not works according to his momentary wills, he practices self-control with which he creates within himself peace, tranquility and self-harmony.

Spread the sprit of harmony to the world  

Today, Japan takes this way and spreads it in the world. The Japanese today teach people around the globe how to perform the Tea Ceremony in order to enable peacefulness between a man and himself, between a man and his surrounding, between nations.

Launching the first Israel branch

I am honored to work within the Sakura Cha meet society that works in Japan, the USA and Israel and wishes to bring us, to our sweaty and war-torn country in the Middle East, the notion of the ceremony, the peacefulness and the harmony.

Click on this link in order to watch the video in which Professor Koizumi, an experienced tea master, tells the story of her first introduction to the Tea Ceremony. In the following link you may be introduced to the NGO Sakura Cha Meet and the reasons of the spreading of the Tea Ceremony awareness in the world in what is named the Tea Ceremony Diplomacy.

And if you have questions in this regard, I will be happy to answer, please contact me.