We were discussing Meibutsu with Suzuki-sensei at the CU 20th Anniversary seminar, and he had a wonderful point about dougu selection. We are often stuck when answering for haiken whether we should give the “real” answer for the dougu in front of us, or if we should pretend it’s something else for the sake of learning.
Suzuki-sensei said not to think of it as pretending, but as imagining.
Imagine you have all the dougu in the world. You have access to the best museums, and you can use anything you like. What would your toriawase be? Which chaire would you select, which chashaku?
This is so much nicer than pretending, which comes with this connotation of playing make-believe.