前に茶道について書きましたが、
１３日に初釜に行ってきました。
As I mentioned about tea ceremony before,
I went to Hatsu-gama(The first official tea ceremony of the year) on 13th.
一席目はお濃茶席でした。
The first ceremony was for Okoicha
(Okoicha is Japanese old style thicky tea which is known as Macha) .
お茶が運ばれてくる前に、まずは新年のご挨拶、
そして、お軸について語ったりします。
Before teas are served, we celebrate new year first,
and then talked about hanging scroll.
「鶴が舞い降りてくるように、たくさんの幸福が降りてきますように」
という意味のお軸だそうです。
The hanging scroll says "Wish a lot of happiness come to this world like crane birds get down the ground"(The crane birds are known as symbol of blessing especially for new year's day in Japan).
にゃんと、肝心のお茶の写真を撮り忘れました！
I can't believe that I forgot to take some pictures of "the TEA"! Aww...
でも、これだけでもとってもきれいでしょう？
But it's beautiful enough even without the pic of the tea, right?
二席目は薄茶で、椅子席でした。
The second ceremony was for Usucha,
(Usucha is like current Japanese green tea)
and we could have chairs then.
お乾菓子は、新春らしい梅の花と、小判のもの。
Ohigashi(Japanese dry confectioneries) was shaped as Japanese apricot flower just like new year and Koban(Japanese old coin).
薄茶席のお軸もとってもきれいでした。
The hanging scroll for Usucha ceremony was beautiful, too!
実は、お茶のような伝統を守る側の方からすると、留学について
「日本の文化も知らないくせに外のことを学ぼうだなんて！」
と思われるかと心配していました。
Actually I was afraid that they don't like people like me because they are the people who keeps traditions.
They might think it's not good that people don't know even the cultures of their own country goes outside of Japan.
でも、みなさんとても寛容で、楽しんできてね！とか
お茶の心を伝えてきてね！とおっしゃってくれて、感動でした。
But unexpectedly, they all are very tolerant, so cheered me up
or said to tell Japanese soul as tea ceremony to Russian people.
初釜で感じたこと、ぜひロシアで伝えたいと思います！
I will tell people in Russia what I felt in this Hatsu-gama.