July 1st:

Walked to Daitokuji to see the copy of Taian in the morning. We got to be in Western clothes in the morning, which was nice, but I did feel a little our of place without my kimono. The Osho of the subtemple was a very interesting man, who said nothing in this world belongs to you except your spirit. You are always dependant on other ( Read more... )

June 8th:

In the morning, the class visited the Nakajima Seikodo mounting studio and we learned about how scrolls are mounted and repaired. We were split into two groups for the demonstrations (Japanese speakers and English speakers) and somehow I ended up with the Japanese speakers. Figures. There are so many brushes and glue types, and we each ( Read more... )

May 24th:

Despite taking medicine the night before to try to sleep, I wasn’t able to sleep until about 1:30, and had to wake up at 6:30 for school. Waking up was unpleasant, and I wasn’t totally excited to go back to seeing everyone again. Jitsugi was in the dorm in the morning, but I was cha and we hadn’t remembered to bring everything to the ( Read more... )

May 19th:

Probably as a result of drinking Mountain Dew, I got approximately no sleep...and I really needed sleep. Also, in the spirit of no rest for the weary I was cho so I had a lot of work to do right away! In the morning we had a lecture by Hamana-sensei on chashitsu followed by a lecture by Mittwer-sensei. I was asking her about the lack of ( Read more... )

My day started at 5:30 when I woke up to make the omogashi. I woke up, made some coffee, put on the Daily Show and started making sweets. The omogashi was a kuzu (kudzu) shibori: a ball of shiroan dyed purple on the inside and a layer of kuzu on the outside. Kuzu is somewhat clear once it has been heated so the effect is like looking through an ( Read more... )

May 10:

Toban:  Cho.  Got there early to make sure all preparations were ready.  Unfortunately, my shokyaku was not in class today, so I couldn't give out my invitations.  Sad!  Japanese history in the morning, still a fun class for me.

Gozumi, kinindate usucha and koicha in the afternoon.  I did kinindate usucha.

May 11:

Tea picking in Uji!  The ( Read more... )

May 1st ( Read more... )

April 26 ( Read more... )

April 16 ( Read more... )

April 13th ( Read more... )