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Tea House in Pasadena to be renovated
PASADENA – For 45 years, the little Japanese teahouse hidden away behind the Pasadena Buddhist Temple’s utilitarian building complex has been the classic setting for centuries-old Japanese “Urasenke” tea ceremonies. The next time the “way of tea” is celebrated there, the teahouse will be the new addition to the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Library. [...]
Practicing the Way of Tea
Mikael Zaurov of www.teamuse.com has written a wonderful article on the philosophical and symbolic attitudes that accompany Japanese Tea Ceremony. While he never addresses Tea Ceremony explicitly, many of the ideas he presents lead straight to the essence of practicing Tea Ceremony. He begins with an insightful Buddhist koan by Zhao Zhou and finishes by [...]
Contemporary ceramics update the tea ceremony
Within the tea world there are stunning gardens, contemplative tea rooms, seasonal flowers, delicious foods, and varied tea vessels made of bamboo, lacquer, glass and most often clay. It’s the latter material that is the most varied and used in the Way of Tea throughout its long history. How contemporary ceramic artists are adapting their [...]
Lu Yu and the purity of tea
Lu Yu, a Tang Dynasty figure whose authorship of the Cha Ching (the Classic of Tea) has earned him the status as the “god” of tea, is a fascinating figure who has given us an historical insight into the growing, manufacture and brewing of tea. At his tea blog, Loose Leaf, Alex Fraser has a [...]
Artist makes kimonos from silkworm eggs
Bryan Whitehead redefines what it means to “make something from scratch.” Starting with some silkworm eggs and easily available natural resources, he eventually ends up with rolls of fine and heavy kimono silk. The textiles created by this Vancouver native are not only beautiful, but it’s as if they also embody some essence of nature [...]