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Kyoto: Candlelit Tea Ceremony in a 100-Year-Old Townhouse
This is a tea ceremony held by candlelight. We turn the lights off for a simple reason: in the dark, you notice more — the sound of the water, the smell of the tea, the weight of the bowl in your hands.The house is a townhouse in Kyoto, about a hundred years old, kept for most of that time by a traditional obi maker. The rooms you'll sit in are the rooms they used. You'll move through three of them: the bright front of the house, where your host meets you and explains what's going to happen; a second room where you're served a welcome tea with a seasonal sweet; and the tearoom itself, lit only by candles, with the garden through the window.Then the host makes tea, and you drink it.The bowls and utensils are chosen for the day and the season. Some are over two hundred years old, some are by potters working today. In summer we use glass. Your host will tell you what you're holding and where it came from.The matcha is grown in Uji and blended to the preference of a tea school's grand master. Your host trained in one of Japan's historic schools of tea.Forty-five minutes, for seven guests at most. It is unhurried, and there is no etiquette you can get wrong. At the end you'll take home a candle made here.The ceremony is conducted in English. You can sit on the floor or in a chair, whichever you prefer.
