CULTURE, JAPANESE CULTURE As the winter sunshine crept across the tatami, our hostess, tea master Masumi Kirihata, performed the elegant, precise steps of the Omotesenke tea ceremony. It was December 2015, and Kirihata (whose tea name is Koshi Soushin) performed the traditional tea ceremony for our small group there in Kyoto, describing each step and utensil in detail as well as a description of the tea room itself. I had booked the experience through Tea Ceremony Ju-an, and my fellow participants and I also had the chance to perform our own small tea ceremony. We ceremonially cleaned and prepared the chashaku (bamboo tea scoop), whisk and...

Staining may happen as a feature on ceramic ware that are light in color, unglazed, and/or feature kanyu (貫入 or crackle in English). To lessen the staining, you can try an adapted form of medome technique used for cooking pots. Disclaimer: We do not guarantee that this will prevent staining. Depending on your ceramic ware, excessive heat and temperature may cause the item to break. We will not be responsible for any damage caused by attempting this technique. Wash your tea pot with lukewarm water, and dry thoroughly. Mix potato starch (alternatively corn starch, rice flour or wheat flour) into a pot with water...

Tango Tanimura, a 20th-generation chasen artisan, shares his modern take on a 500-year-old tradition. CULTURE, JAPANESE CULTURE Over 90 percent of Japanese matcha bamboo whisks are made in one small village in northwest Nara Prefecture. The tradition goes back over 500 years, when the Tokugawa Shogunate bestowed 13 families in Takayama village with the Tanimura surname with the right to make chasen. For centuries, artisans worked only at night and passed on their skills by word of mouth to the eldest sons of the family to ensure the craft remained a secret. Of those 13 original families, only three remain. Tango Tanimura...

Introduction by Yunomi Tea Merchant, Ian Chun Image credit: kikuo / PIXTA This long essay by Japanese scholar Kakuzo Okakura was written in English in 1906 to explain Chado (also known as "Sado" or "Cha-no-yu") or "the way of tea" (alternatively "Teaism" as Okakura-san himself uses) to a Western audience. I also highly recommend reading this text along with Junichiro Tanizaki's essay In Praise of Shadows to understand the concepts and ideals of Japanese aesthetics that fascinates so many around the world (More info on Wikipedia. Buy a copy on Amazon). Finally, for a more modern collection of essays on Chado, Every Day a Good Day Fifteen lessons I...