道学実

Bonryaku - Wednesday, September 19, 2018 f00db4bdf1804677bdc6d05304a8f2c9

5 min read

date modified
Monday, May 1st 2023, 9:30:32 pm

Bonryaku - Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Created: September 19, 2018 4:44 AM
Tags: Bonryaku, Guest, Koicha, Usucha
Updated: September 19, 2018 4:44 AM

Ro-sensei (Bonryaku) and also a little bit of Watanabe-sensei (Kasanejawan)

HOLY SHIT MY KNEES. Today was definitely the worst seiza day so far. Until now, we’ve also been doing a fair amount of seki-iri, so there’s been a lot of walking practice and standing. But today, we did our five temae all in a row (with standing between temae, to be fair), then we moved over to the senpai’s room to sit for kasanejawan. And then that ran late. With all the standing, that was maybe a cumulative 2.5 hours of sitting? Owww.

Bonryaku notes (Ro-sensei):

  • I scoot incorrectly! You shouldn’t scoot on your first knuckles — you should scoot on your second knuckles. The hand position you use when hanto for kinindate is how you should scoot. “You’re young; that kind of scooting is for the obaachans.”
  • I don’t know how much of this to believe, but Ro-sensei wants our arms to be parallel to our shoulders during fukusa-sabaki.

Tbh, that was it for Ro-sensei. He just corrects for order, not style (generally speaking). HOWEVER FOR WATANABE-SENSEI, GODDAMN HE DROPPED SOME TEA BOMBS.

Koicha guest procedure with kobukusa:

  • Generally (seems like), having a kobukusa should not affect the position of the bowl. So when you place it out as the teishu, you first place the bowl in the normal place, then to the right of it (host perspective), place the kobukusa (closed). When the bowl is returned, the bowl should go back to the same place, then the kobukusa should go to the left of the bowl (guest perspective).
  • First guest retrieves the bowl and places it in their left palm. Right hand picks up the kobukusa and holds it with four fingers (the only real natural way to hold the folded edge with all four fingers). R + kobukusa steady the chawan with the opening to the kobukusa facing up.
  • When arriving at your seat, kobukusa goes down to the right of the knee (TODO verify position, was below knee line today). Bowl goes to osaki-ni position, and everybody does sorei.
  • Place kobukusa in left hand and open it. Place chawan on top of kobukusa. Drink like normal.
  • As the last guest takes their last sip, first guest asks for haiken, and last guest acknowledges.
  • Last guest places the bowl down center heriuchi, folds the kobukusa, and places it in the upper left of their heriuchi (like where a chashaku would go during haiken).
  • Last guest cleans the bowl with their kojakin, picks up the bowl and places it in their bare left hand, then picks up the kobukusa as the first guest did when picking up from the teishu.
  • First guest receives the bowl and places it and the kobukusa separately heriuchi (haiken position). Osaki-ni.
  • Big note, you do haiken the kobukusa.
  • Last guest handles it the same way as above. Positioning is the same as if the chawan was a natsume and the kobukusa was a chashaku.
  • Deai (that looks dumb in romaji). Bowl returns to its normal spot, and kobukusa goes to the left.

General notes (Watanabe-sensei):

  • This one blew my goddamn mind. When purifying chaire, you should not apply any pressure at all with your right hand (the hand holding the fukusa). In fact, your right hand should be perfectly straight (blade), and your left hand should be able to turn the chaire all on its own. Your left pinky goes underneath the bottom of the chaire to steady it, then the other fingers do the spinning. Practice this because god damn, it looks so good.
  • Further mindblowing: when doing taikai (the wide chaire with the big opening), your fukusa should be almost underneath the chaire, about a 30 degree angle from horizontal. This way, the guests can see it. Otherwise, because it’s such a stout shape, you hide it completely behind the fukusa. This is possible because of how you hold the chaire from the prior point.
  • ALSO MINDBLOWING. When you get a new fukusa, you should fold it juuust exactly perfectly, then leave it in that folded state overnight (not pressing it down). You can even steam it a little bit (ie hold it over the opening of the kama briefly) before letting it sit overnight. This will help give it that initial fabric-memory(?) so it folds properly every time.
  • This was so smart. He has a larger silk towel (like big kobukusa, all white) that he keeps his kaichuu in.
  • Koicha note 1: You should knead pretty vigorously. Liiike, think the tempo of Stayin’ Alive and double it. About that speed. He says, “Think like you’re putting all your thoughts into this bowl”. As for the motion, make small little circles.
  • Koicha note 2: The first pour of water is to blend everything together and make it smooth. The second pour of water is to mix everything together and make sure it’s a good consistency.

Graph View