Reading & Research · 22 January 2020
Today I have the great pleasure of releasing my translation and expansion of thought on Murata Shukō's "Letter of the Heart". I originally released this to my patrons and students last year. In doing so, I included the note that "great ideas want to be free" as stuff of this calibre needs to be out in the world, touching people's hearts and inspiring human culture - keep the internet open and free. So here it is. Set sail. I've put it into English, the defacto world tongue of the moment....

Events · 18 January 2020
Dear all Chanoyu is about awakening our hearts to the deeper themes of our lives. Let's. The morning of the 25th of January is the Lunar New Year for 2020. Candlelight turns to sunlight. As the sun rises, we will prepare tea, alone, each to ourselves in our private abode. But we will be together in spirit. I openly invite all people to prepare a personal bowl of tea at dawn for the Lunar New Year - 'one dawn, together'. Tea can be matcha, bowl tea oolong, jakseol green, yerba matê, whatever...

Events · 12 January 2020
For Sōmu Shachū, our emphasis is on doing tea. As we explore how to do tea in all our corners of the world, the world learns with us. We've retired a very full 2019 Events page to make way for 2020. I've taken this opportunity to look back on some moments in 2019 that made my heart sing. I hope more and more people can be touched by the sincere chanoyu of Sōmu Shachū people. As time marches on, so does our practice. Here's to developing into more and more capable tea people for ourselves...

Reading & Research · 03 September 2019
The footring is the most important physical feature of a chawan. This is why potters can fail abysmally when they attempt to make a chawan - their foot ring is an afterthought. On the contrary, the footring makes the chawan for any tea person. (‘Footring’ (kōdai) is used here as a general reference to the base of the chawan: the footring and surrounding clay which includes the kōdai-waki and kōdai-uchi.)

Events · 21 June 2019
In Sōmu Shachū, we mark seasonal transitions with chaji - formal tea gatherings consisting of incense, charcoal and ash arranging ceremony, tea cuisine, tea sweets, thick tea (koicha) and thin tea (usucha). We are dispersed all over the globe, so for the solstice, some of us are down South and others up North. Midwinter and midsummer chaji are thus celebrated at the same time in our Shachū, according to our respective loco. All students work together with Adam, the principal sensei of Sōmu...

Events · 20 March 2019
In Sōmu Shachū, we mark seasonal transitions with chaji - formal tea gatherings consisting of incense, charcoal and ash arranging ceremony, tea cuisine, tea sweets, thick tea (koicha) and thin tea (usucha). We are dispersed all over the globe, so for the equinox, some of us are down South and others up North. Vernal and Autumnal equinox chaji are thus celebrated at the same time in our Shachū, according to our respective loco. All students work together with Adam, the principal sensei, to...

Events · 05 February 2019
The morning of Tuesday, 5th February 2019, saw the inaugural Lunar Wabicha, “One dawn together”, roll out across our beautiful Earth. This event was inspired by one of the tea records attributed to Sen Rikyū in the Nampō Roku. No matter what school or tea tradition, all tea people were invited to create a private chanoyu imbued with one’s understanding of ‘wabi’ to mark the start of the lunar New Year. More deeply, the idea was that regardless of individual background, people would...

Chanoyu Translation  · 01 February 2019
After a fruitless search for the date Oribe's chashitsu 'Ennan' was first built, I asked the crew at Iemoto of the Ueda Ryū if they could help out. Fukuma Shihandai came through with the goods, providing two likely dates: 1599 and 1611. You can see what I reckon in the blog post. The date is important as Oribe's manuscripts describe keiko in a chashitsu almost identical to Ennan. Now I can be fairly sure of my translations while imagining the cha in Ennan. I hope you enjoy this info on a...

Chanoyu Translation  · 31 January 2019
Nampō Roku Book 6 - Sumi-biki 南方録 墨引 Incomplete: pp 210-234, first 25 pages of the chapter I'm absolutely delighted to bring my patrons a further installment of the Nampō Roku Sumi-biki section. I have decided to keep translating the Sumi-biki section of the Nampō Roku as I believe the teachings of kanewari illuminate the other texts I am translating (100 Poems of Chanoyu / Oribe's Hundred Lines / An Audience with Oribe). Perhaps it is not too far a stretch to simply say that...

Site Updates · 30 January 2019
I've added an article on 'meibutsu' 名物 or 'famous pieces' to the Chanoyu Reference section of the website. Here's a link to the article. Best bow Adam

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