On Thursday, May 30, 2024, 18 international students participated in the first Japanese Culture Workshop for International Students, a Tea Ceremony Experience event.

The event was held in collaboration with the members of the SUMS Tea Ceremony Club, and Taiki Horie (4th year, School of Medicine), the club’s representative, gave a 15-minute lecture followed by a performance of otemae, the procedure for making tea. Six participants were invited into the tea ceremony room at a time to experience being guests while being taught by Kanon Nakajima (5th year, School of Medicine) how to greet, what to say, and the meaning of words and manners.

The tranquility of the room, the time spent watching the host’s otemae, and the taste of maccha and yokan, all of which were new to them. Comments such as “I felt the spirituality that comes from Zen” were heard, and one student had a conversation with the host about “Tenmoku” tea bowl, even though they had to sit on the floor in Seiza for about 20 minutes, which was very grueling.

 Lecture

Tea ceremony experience 1

Mr. Horie’s Otemae

Tea ceremony experience 2

Tea ceremony experience 3