Chakaiki — A new invitation to wanderings

After our last firing, Sasaki-sensei and I prepared tea together.

In ancient times, tea people would write down records of their tea ceremonies and of the most important pieces they saw. It was called a chakaiki. This is a modern chakaiki with pictures and commentaries.

Tokonoma — white boats and blue beauties

All of this trip was made possible thanks to the help of Alex Kerr, a famous american writer in love with Japan and expert in —at least— calligraphy. As Sasaki’s friend, he accepted me in his old house full of treasures, only forty minutes by bicycle from the workshop —and that was the closest house ! My legs will certainly remember the seven endlessly uphill kilometers that I had to ride every morning in the mountains. But my heart will surely also remember Alex Kerr’s generosity.

Before I left the house, Mr. Kerr offered me one of his calligraphy. He signs his works instead of using a stamp — I think that is his way of playing between Western and Eastern traditions.

Sasaki and I hanged this calligraphy in the tokonoma (the alcove). To search for beauty beyond tradition and modernity, that is, after all, what brought Sasaki and I together.

Under this work, Sasaki layed his own floral arrangement in a white boat. In there, grasses are high and the flower is still shy. Who knows where all of them will go ?

The apprentice’s tea

I was the first to serve tea. Sasaki chose my most successful tea bowl to serve him. It happened to be the very first black tea bowl that survived my failures. The next ones were either too heavy or too irregular.They were also less spontaneous.

In my tea school, Sohen Ryu, we use a different tea bowl during the final phase of the ceremony. I chose this red tea bowl and its chaotic stains. We it came out of its first firing, the glaze had not gripped properly to the clay and I had to use some correcting « inks ». The result is strangely blurry and genuine. It is the only red tea bowl that I brought back to France.

Finally, I chose this Natsume (tea caddy) with long blades of grass and dragonflies. Just like the latter, I sometimes felt that I was wandering on the surface, far from the tall grasses that know how to take roots.

The potter’s tea

Sasaki served me in the tea bowl that I have described before. The tea bowl that he had just finished and was still hot. He laid it on the tatami with respect and prepared tea without examining the tea bowl. He knew his own piece very well, he trusted its shape.

The Natsume that Sasaki used was made of bright would with a kingfisher on it. A bird of clear streams and summer days, a peaceful and colorful traveler…

Future teas(e)

And so my adventure at Shoraku came to an end. One last time, I drank the steamy tea in a bowl where water, fire and sun where poured, almost at the same time.

With our usual silence, Sasaki and I cleaned the tea house then he took me back home. He said goodbye from his car window and all was over. Really over ? Some hours before,  I was choosing the tea bowls to take back to France. I took four and left ten. Sasaki looked at them and said : « you’ll take them next time. »

Next time…