Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony
A taste of Japan in a traditional Japanese garden
Synopsis
The Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony is the first large-scale tea ceremony to be held at the Hama-rikyu Gardens and will feature an “Indoor tea ceremony,” a “Casual outdoor tea ceremony”, and an “introduction to the tea cultures of China, England, and Russia and the culture of Edo/Tokyo”.
Enjoy your tea in elegant tea houses such as the Nakajima-no-Ochaya and the Hobaitei, while taking in the beautiful scenery of Shioiri-no-Ike (tidal pond).
Hama-rikyu Gardens
Other events include the “Tea ceremony for children and foreign visitors” and a “Lecture on how to serve tea”. On the stage, visitors will also enjoy the flamboyant dance of geisha girls, observed since the Edo period, as well as traditional Japanese music presented by Tokyo University of the Arts. We hope many of you will come and enjoy these fabulous events.
With the full collaboration of the Tokyo Association of Flower Arrangement and Tea Ceremony, various schools of tea ceremony including San-Senke, or “three Sen families”, will participate in this tea ceremony.
* Details will be updated on this page as they become available.
Schedule
Saturday, October 25, Sunday, October 26, 2008
Venue
Hama-rikyu Gardens
Fee
Admission fees:
Adults and students of 7th grade and over 300 yen
Seniors (65 and over) 150 yen
Children (6th grade and under) and students up to and including 9th grade who live in Tokyo or who go to schools in Tokyo Free
Tea ceremony participation fee:
An additional 300 to 500 yen is required. Tickets are available at the general reception.
Organizers
Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
Outline
The Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony is designed to provide an opportunity for anyone to experience the Japanese tea culture. Its purpose is to familiarize the citizens of Tokyo with traditional tea culture, and to introduce tourists visiting the Tokyo area to the Edo/Tokyo way of life throughout culture in which the tea culture has been cherished.
An introduction of basic tea ceremony etiquette will be provided for those who have never attended a tea ceremony and for overseas tourists so that they can experience the Japanese traditional culture of the tea ceremony.
Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony, one of the Tokyo Culture Creation Project’s highlights, can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Enjoy drinking Japanese tea and spend a luxurious autumn day at Hama-rikyu Gardens.
http://www.tokyodaichakai.jp/
About Tea Ceremony
The tea ceremony is a gathering where guests are received and tea is served in accordance with the art of ceremonial tea-making.
At the tea ceremony, the host and guest place a great deal of importance on their meeting which may be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
In October 1587, the feudal warlord, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, hosted a tea ceremony occasion at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, serving tea to his guests whether or not they were interested in tea. It is said that he created over 800 place settings and brought a golden tea room into the shrine and showed off his fine tea-making utensils.
Four hundred and twenty years later, the Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony, inspired by this famous “Kitano Grand Tea Ceremony” will observe and carry on the tradition of the Japanese tea ceremony.
About Hama-rikyu Gardens
Hama-rikyu Gardens opened in 1946. The park is a 250,215.72 m2 landscaped garden surrounding Shioiri-no-ike Pond and two kamoba, wild duck hunting sites. The park, with 6,077 trees of varying kinds, is a typical Daimyo (Japanese feudal lord) garden of the Edo period.
Until 1644, the whole pond had been reed fields and had been used as a falconry site for Shogun families.
Matsudaira Tsunashige, a younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, the fourth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, built the first villa on the premises, and since then, the garden had undergone landscaping and repair work several times by successive shoguns.
After the Meiji Restoration, the garden and villa became the detached palace of royal families. In 1945, the garden was donated to the Tokyo Metropolis, and was opened to the public the following year.
In November 1952, this garden was appointed as a Special Place of scenic beauty and a Special Historic Site, based on the Cultural Properties Protection Law of Japan.
* Details of schedule will be updated as they become available.
