An Exercise in Presence: Experiencing a Tea Ceremony in Tokyo
Experiencing a formal tea ceremony in Japan had been on my wish list for years, and now that the moment had finally arrived, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Known as chanoyu (or sado/chado), I had only an abstract idea of what a Japanese tea ceremony was like.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A TEA CEREMONY IN JAPAN? Every movement in the ceremony is deliberate – from the way the tea is whisked to how the bowl is turned before drinking.
The Urasenke school is the largest of three main tea ceremony schools in Japan. Met by Souei-san at the door, I removed my shoes and was taken to this tea room, where Souai-san sat me down in front of the tokonoma (alcove). It’s a powerful parable that reminds us to accept the world as it is, and not how we want it to be.
Sitting on top is a small tea canister, while on the bottom is the mizusashi – a larger vessel containing fresh, cold water to replenish the kama and to rinse and purify utensils used in the ceremony. It bears the name of the tea master to certify the quality of the matcha.
Grassy and intense in savor, the taste of matcha can be jarring for some people, so the wagashi lines your mouth with sweetness to help soften the bitterness of the tea. Without conversation to distract you, your attention shifts elsewhere – to the way Souei-san purifies the utensils, to the sound of water heating in the kettle.
In the Japanese tea ceremony, every action is precise, and nothing is improvised – not even the way Souei-san folds the cloth, or the angle by which he holds the ladle. This meticulous precision – combined with mastery of ritual and mindful presence – is why it takes years, even decades, to become a master of the tea ceremony. As beautiful as the Japanese tea ceremony is in principle, many foreigners may find it too formal and restrictive, and that’s fair.
But it’s key to understand that the formality of chanoyu has its purpose. The rigidity is meant to remove distraction and narrow your focus to the choreography of the experience. From the purification of the utensils to the whisking of the matcha, our attention was fully fixed on her husband’s preparation of the tea.
Served with another sweet – this time a type of higashi (dry wagashi) – Souai-san instructed me to bow before picking up the bowl and placing it in the palm of my left hand. As I explained, the formality of a Japanese tea ceremony is maintained from start to finish.
In these final moments, it becomes clear to me that this ceremony was never about drinking tea. With fewer distractions, it becomes much easier to settle into the rhythm of the ceremony and appreciate what’s happening in front of you.
I enjoyed this chanoyu at To-Ri-An, but there are several tea ceremony experiences you can choose from on Wabunka.