Photos of Traditional Japanese Sweets for Tea Ceremonies

 

In connection to the big Tea Ceremony event "Tokyo Daichakai" on my last post on the Nov. 11th, I'd like to talk about Tea Ceremony Sweets today. Though these sweets are not only for Tea Ceremony and can be found in traditional Japanese sweets shops, the sweets are one of the biggest delights for Tea Ceremony guests. 

Roughly two different types of traditional sweets are served at Tea Ceremonies and one is called "Nama-Gashi" which is shown in the upper photos and lower right hand side photo. The literal translation of "Nama-Gashi" is "Uncooked-Sweets", though it is surely cooked. The main ingredient of  "Nama-Gashi" is beans, either the whole sweets or the filling is sweetened bean paste made from boiled beans. The texture of it is soft and very moist. "Nama-Gashi" doesn't keep long ( should be consumed within a day ) and that may be the reason for the name.  

The other one is called "Hi-Gashi" which means "Dry Sweets" and is a photo is shown in the lower left hand side. It is a kind of traditional candy called "Wasanbon" and made of sugar powder. Beside "Wasanbon", rice crackers and sweetened dry beans are also "Hi-Gashi". 

Basically, the "Nama-Gashi" is served before strong macha tea of a Tea Ceremony, and "Hi-Gashi" is served before light macha tea at a formal Tea Ceremony, but when only light macha tea is served at a Tea Ceremony, either sweets can be served.

One of the most important purpose of  providing Tea Ceremony sweets is to give a sense of the season to the guests. The shape or the color is designed to remind people  of the current season.  

The sweets in the lower photos are for fall season, the shapes showing fall harvest and popular autumn foliage, such as gingko leaves and Maple leaves.  The "Nama-Gashi" sweets in the upper photos are for different seasons. Can you tell which season it would be for each of three?

 

Semi-formal Tea Ceremony at Tokyo Daichakai Event in October

I'd like to introduce a little more about Japanese Tea Ceremonies. My previous post on this blog, "The Open-Air Tea Ceremony Event With Geisha in Hachioji Downtown", was about very casual Tea Ceremony event, so people didn't have to worried about manners at all and just enjoyed the tea and sweets served by Geisha. 

Let's take a look at a more formal type of Tea Ceremony. Every year a big Tea-Ceremony event is held at Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum in October. At the event several historical buildings are used for the Tea Ceremony and most of the ceremonies are semi-formal.
Actually, the procedures for Tea Ceremony are strictly decided in a formal way and must be followed. Also it requires direcrtly sitting on a Tatami-mat floor in a traditional style until the ceremony ends as in the photo ①. Thus usually only experienced people would join the formal Tea-Ceremony. Even though this is a semi-formal event, many of the participants have probably taken some Tea Ceremony classes.

I'm going to introduce a typical procedure for the Tea Ceremony using the 5 photos above n sequence, and you may be able to see why most Japanese people would hesitate to join a Tea Ceremony if they don't have enough experience. Anyway, let's see.

①In the beginning, guests sit side by side in a row at the edge of the room and a hostess of the Tea Ceremony makes a tea according to the procedure as shown in the photo①. The guests sitting on the right end of the row is called "Osyokyaku (the highest guest)" and has to lead other Tea Ceremony guests. Thus everything will be served from the highest guest.
②Traditional sweets are served. As a rule for Tea Ceremony, sweets are always served first. Since it is a semi-formal style, there is neither plate nor fork to put the sweets on, people use the paper piled next to the sweets shown in the photo②, but formally all guests should have their own paper and a flat-pick for sweets. Each guest takes a piece of the sweets and eats it according to the ceremony procedure. 
③After guests finished the sweets, a bowl of Macha green tea as in the photo will be served for the guests one by one. The tea bowls for Tea Ceremonies are considered to have front and back and it is served showing the front to the guest. After the tea bowl is placed on the Tatami-mat the guest has to pick it up and turn it to avoid drinking from the front. After finishing the tea the guest has to turn the bowl again to face the front to the person who will clear it away. This is one of the rules for Tea Ceremony, and it is for showing a respect each other. 
④⑤When all guests have finished their tea, guests appreciate the items of the Tea Ceremony and room decorations used on the day as shown in the photos. Guests and the tea ceremony hostess talk about the history and the creator/artist of the items and the decorations and discuss the whole coordinate on that day. Therefore not only the hostess but also "the highest guest" are usually required to have enough knowledge to initiate the discussion. 

Now you might be scared to join this event. Don't worry! There is a beginners' room in this event. In the beginners' room, experienced people will explain each step kindly in detail and everybody can enjoy the experience of the Tea Ceremony. English explanation is also available at the ceremony.

An Open-Air Tea Ceremony Event With Geisha in Hachioji Downtown

As I introduced a couple of times previously, Hachioji downtown is one of the rare areas where real Geishas are still working. Geishas are usually labeled with the name of the area where they work since they traditionally work inside of a limited district. Thus, the Geishas in these photos are called “Hachioji Geisha”.

Although they are certainly working in Hachioji-City especially around downtown area, it is still difficult for people to come across them. There are not many of them. However, several events are held in the city where Hachioji Geishas participate and if you visit Hachioji on the days of these events, you can definitely see them.

This is an open-air tea-ceremony event with Hachioji Geishaa held on the Oct. 17th. With 500 Yen everybody can have a set of a traditional sweet and a traditional tea bowl of Macha-gren-tea (a strong green tea made of green tea powder) poured by Geishas. Of course a Geisha will serve the tea set to you.

Apparently the event started only a couple years ago, but it became one of the annual Geisha events in Hachioji.