A few weeks ago, I went to a chado, or tea ceremony. Cha means "tea," and dou means "the way of." The tea ceremony plays an important role in Japanese culture, and it can take as long as four hours. However, our experience only included the last part of it, which lasted 40 minutes.
This was a chado experience specifically for international students in Kyoto. First, we were led to a traditional Japanese room with bamboo mats, or tatami. When we entered, the host told us not to step on the edges of the tatami. Why? In the old days, if a samurai wanted to assassinate you they would hide underneath tatami, and stick their sword through the edges of the mat when you stepped there.
We sat in seiza, which is a formal way of sitting where your legs are tucked below your hips. At the beginning of the ceremony, we were given mochi, which is a Japanese sweet made out of rice. Our host then started preparing the tea, by putting powdered green tea leaves, or matcha, into a ceramic mug. She then used a wooden ladle to add some room temperature water to the mug along with some boiling water, which was being heated in a hole below the floor.
