Tea activities
Tea Life, Tea Living.
We want you to have Tea as part of your life. If you want to memorize rules, go elsewhere. We focus on:
●
the Foundation
Study the tradition, gain the essential knowledge base.
▲
the Enjoyment
Use what you have learned! Learn how to adapt/apply the Tea culture in life.
■
the Tranquility
Find and cultivate your best self. See more, clearly.
Tea introductions
What is Tea?
a tsukimitei Tea presentation is about giving participants the important background information, a glimpse at the actual preparation of tea by professionals, and the opportunity to experience the Tea way directly through active participation.
Presenting in English and Japanese (or both), for both visitors to Japan and native Japanese (or both), we strive to make sure that the content is meaningful, apt, impactful, and never too much.
This work is very important to the spread of Tea (and thereby, peace and harmony) throughout Japan and the World, a mission left to us by Dr. Hounsai Genshitsu Sen XV, former head of the Urasenke Chado tradition.
.jpg)
comments from participants
Tea instruction feedback
Feedback from students:
What have you found most interesting about chado/chanoyu?
-
客人に対するおもてなしの心は非常に為になりました。
-
We always respect others.
-
We can do Tea in English. This is not just only for Japan.
-
It is seasonality. Flowers, sweets, and poems were very beautiful!
-
細かい動作一つ一つに意味があり、奥が深い所
What part of the course will be most useful to you in the future?
-
季節の移ろいを楽しむ心を手に入れました。
-
忙しい日々の中でも時々茶道のことを思い出すことで心を休めることができるのかなと思いました。
-
The Spirit of Chanoyu is useful for me. I can feel comfortable when I drink a tea. I want to practice more and serve to someone in the future.
-
Way to fold Fukusa.ふくさから学んだムダがなく、意味がある動きを私生活で活かしていきたい。
Student comments/messages:
-
入学して最も楽しい授業だと思いました。秋学期も是非受講したいです。ありがとうございました。
-
先生が作ったスライド、おもしろかったです。お茶も楽しみながら学べました。
-
When I took this class, I was worry I could understand. However your class is very interesting and easy to understand. Thank you!
-
Thank you for the interesting class!!
-
とても面白く、タメになる授業でした！１週間の中で１番楽しみにしていた授業なので、終わったのが寂しいです。秋学期にもマイケル先生の授業があればぜひ受けたいと思っています。
-
茶道と聞いた時、とても堅苦しいイメージを持っていたが、この授業では楽しく学ぶことができ、とても良かったです。秋学期も是非受けたいです。
Private Instruction feedback:
マイク先生のお稽古では、何時も新しい発見があり、楽しく心満たされて帰ります。今日は特に沢山お喋りできて、嬉しかったです。ありがとうございました。
とても楽しい会、ありがとうございました。「和顔愛語」ですね、リラックスしながらのお茶席でとっても幸せで本当にありがとうございました♪
お茶って本当に心満たされますね。これからも、お茶のお稽古の時間、大切にしていきたいです。
Tea presentations feedback
今回Hardy先生の話を聞いて、気づいたことや感じたことがいくつかあります。まずは、Hardy先生は私が生まれる前から茶道に出会っていた事です。本当に茶道が お好きな方なんだと感心しました。…次は茶道について思ったことで、まず茶道を英語に訳すと“Tea ceremony”ではなく、“The way of tea” だということに衝撃を受けました。儀式ではなく道というより深いものだということには心惹かれまし た。
今回2時間もHardy先生が、茶道について熱くかたってくださって、私 自身とても心動かされて、体験してみたいと思いました。とても貴重で良い時間を先生には頂いてとても感謝しました。
今日、茶道についてたくさん学ぶことができて良かったです。茶道とはおもてなしの精神だということを改めて感じました。茶室での立ち振る舞いや正座の仕方は日常生活で役立つことばかりなので、しっかり身につけようと思いました。今、グローバル社会が発展しているなか、日 本の文化を沢山の人に知ってもらいたいなと思います。
I really enjoyed it.
楽しく聴けて、また学びになりました。
とても楽しく、マイクさんの一期一会の global な精神を感じました。Sweet も tea もいただき、dancing まで学び、とても有意義でした。本当にありがとうございます。京都の風をいただきました。またよろしくお願いいたします。
たいへん盛りだくさんの企画でありがとうございました。 とても素晴らしい企画でした。先生の語りには茶人としての雰囲気を漂わせながらユーモア にあふれ動画も見事であっという間の時間でした。
千里同風という考え方に感銘を受けました。伝統文化をもっと身近に楽しむコツを教えてい ただき、良かったです。
とても楽しい２時間の講座でした。お話の構成が良くできていて、内容もよく理解できました。
Kyoto tours feedback
I was just reaching out, now that we are home, to say a very big thank you for your willingness to organize a tour with Mike. He was a class act, and really unlocked Kyoto for my husband and myself. I have to say it was one of our top three highlights of the trip, and can't say enough good things about Mike and how he guides.
All the best,
Alison H.
Thanks as always for the wonderful experiences that you provide for our clients. You always get great feedback and the one that sticks out the most is P.C., who travelled with us last May. She was a huge fan.
Malcolm W.
Senior Luxury Travel Consultant
from clients:
We were saying over dinner how much we enjoyed yesterday AM, particularly the absolutely wonderful gardens at 〇〇〇 and the peace & tranquility at 〇〇〇. Your knowledge was second to none and we thank you again for your time in making yesterday morning a most enjoyable experience for us.
Mike was one of the best guides I have ever had, period. I can't say enough good things about him.
Mike Hardy, our booked guide, contacted us the day before we were due to meet him and offered to start our tour early. We appreciated his kindness and thinking-ahead, because we are early risers! We enjoyed getting a head start and getting to know Mike. We did a fairly standard run through 〇〇〇 and 〇〇〇, bidding Mike farewell at lunch time, but rather wishing we had him booked for the whole day. He was everything we had hoped the Tokyo guide had been in terms of his narration, questions, and helping us to get the most out of limited time. Privately, we felt a bit guilty for boring him with first-timer tourism. He had lived in Kyoto for so long and had such a deep emotional understanding of the city, we were very impressed by his observations and pensive assessments. After the tour, Mike texted us a full route of everything we had done, along with names and streets so that we understood all the photographs we had taken. That gesture was worth its weight in gold. He further gave us an itinerary for the next day based on our stated interests. Through specific routes and educated recommendations, we did so much more in just two days than we thought possible! Mike knew all the good shortcuts, and ensured it was a delightful mix of nature, art, shrines, city sites, unique foods, and quieter places to shop.
