Sunday, July 06, 2008

- Kodaisai -

abbreviated version of the name KODAIRA-sai, one of Hitotsubashi University's annual festivals. the shortened name is confusing especially to Tokodai students, since our festival is called Koudai-sai, with an extra U.

went to a Japanese tea ceremony held by -obviously- the Sadobu a.k.a Tea Ceremony Club, in an isolated, antique building in the West Campus. anyhow, it was my first time experiencing a full tea ceremony (had something similar when i went to an ikebana event 2 years ago in Osaka, but that was just tea-drinking, and did not include the appreciation of the 30-minute-long tea-making process and sitting through the entire session in the traditional seiza way).

yes we seiza-ed for, if including the time we spent to drink and eat, probably 45 minutes. even the Japanese students couldn't stand up immediately after having "sour" legs.

oh by the way, we attended the tea ceremony in groups of.. 10 or 12? the first person (who sat nearest to the tea-maker) is the shoukyaku a.k.a principle guest, and he/she tastes the tea and the sweets first, followed by the guest sitting beside, so on and so forth.

before drinking the tea, bow down to the guest next to you and say, "osaki ni itadakimasu (allow me to have it first)". then, turn the cawan twice (or 3 times, until θ=90°.... LOL) clockwise before drinking the tea. my former Japanese culture teacher told us that when we're taking the last sip off the cup, we have to do it loudly and quick. after that, turn the cup anti-clockwise back to how it was and wait for the host to collect the cup. meanwhile the host explains the origin of the tea-making tools, cups, as well as the drawing and flowers in the tatami room. the guests may take their leave after appreciating these things.

at least that's how it was on that day..


later we (Zoloo and her sister and i) saw the grand finale of Kodaisai at the sports stadium.

dancing 1st-year boys, cross-dressed as high-school girls

in case you didn't get it, they're singing We Are The World

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