Chanoyu

I've been interested in Japanese tea ceremonies since watching Karate Kid II (I think). I've wanted to take the tea ceremony class while in college but just couldn't fit it in my schedule. Now that I'm in Japan, I thought I'd check it out.
Today I went to a tea ceremony class with one of my friend's JTEs. Sensei bought a house just for chanoyu (chado). The house was beautiful with tatami covering the floors. I was lucky enough to observe the ceremony, learn how to drink the tea, try making some tea and eating the sweets that accompany the tea. I didn't know that this ceremony had so many intricate steps. When done by sensei, it was so fluid and looked so simple. But...looks can be deceiving. For example, if the bowl was placed an inch to the right or left, it was considered incorrect placement.
After the ceremony, I felt really Japanese :p There's something special when being part of and actively participating in a traditional cultural art form. Anywho, I'm really interested in learning more about chanoyu so I borrowed a book from the library :). I thought this picture was a nice segway from the last post (^ ^)