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View all search resultsParisian museum hosts Japanese tea ceremony
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Green matcha tea, bamboo whisk, spoon and tea powder (Shutterstock/Jiri Hera)
V
isitors were treated to a Japanese tea ceremony and a talk on its history in a Parisian museum on Sunday by members of the Urasenke school, one of the top three schools in Japan practicing the art.
More than 500 people attended tea ceremonies held Saturday and Sunday at the Petit Palais as part of the "Japonismes 2018" celebration to mark the 160th anniversary last year of friendship between Japan and France.
Visitors drank green tea and ate traditional sweets. They also listened as Reijiro Izumi, deputy curator of a tea ceremony museum in Japan, explained how tea culture, originally introduced from China, flourished and developed in Japan as its own tradition after being influenced by tea masters such as Sen no Rikyu, who emphasized simplicity in his "wabi" style.
Read also: Three fun facts about tea
"The Japanese culture of clothing, food and living can all be summarized in the art of the tea ceremony," emphasized Izumi. He said the art is expressed also by the traditional small plates, the tea room's architecture and kimonos worn during the ceremony.
"That the tea ceremony's customs have endured feels mysterious," said a 65-year-old who participated in a tea ceremony for the first time.
"I can't say that I like the taste of green tea but it was a fantastic discovery," said another participant.
"We would like to introduce the tea ceremony in various ways so that people will not have a fixed image of what it is," said Izumi, grandson to the former grand master Sen Genshitsu.
