稽古 Keiko 19年4月28日

銘 Mei

白露・Shiratsuyu

朝に白く光って見える露。Shiratsuyu refers to the glistening morning dew.

お菓子：みのり

栗のいがのように栗の実の周りに甘栗餡そぼろがついたお菓子です。

Sweet: 'Minori'
This sweet is made to look like a nut from a chestnut tree still inside the burr. The burr is made from bean paste mixed with ground chestnuts. This paste, called 'soboro', sits around two sweet, roasted chestnuts.

共に学ぶ

宗冏

十二月に入り納釜、年初の初釜、稽古初めと茶会の準備や日々の稽古に精進されていることと思います。

四十歳を過ぎてから曹源寺原田老師の許に伺う様になってしばらく経過した頃、私が御老師に「自分がすぐ緊張し、汗をかいたり固くなったりして茶を指導するには向いていないのではないかと思うことがある」と申しますと、御老師は「師匠が日々努力して一歩一歩階段を登っていくのが見える方が弟子はついて行きやすい」と言われたことをよく覚えています。

村田珠光の”心の文”の冒頭に茶の湯の道で第一に悪いことは、心の我慢我執である。慢心し我を張る気持があると茶の湯の巧みな人を妬み初心者を見下すようになる。これは特によくないことだ。巧みな人に接して自分の未熟のことを悟って教えをお願い、また初心者には修行の助けをし、成長に寄与すべきだ。（意訳）」とあります。茶の湯の巧みの人も初心者も共に柔軟な心で学ぶことの大切さを説いています。禅には「共に学ぶ」という考えがあり、禅が根底にある茶の湯も同じ考えです。共に学ぶためには柔軟な心がとても大切です。「私は師匠だから弟子はこうあるべきだ」という固定概念は柔軟な心を自分から奪ってしまいます。

日本文化は型の文化とよく言われています。 繰り返し繰り返し訓練することによって直観力を高め、五感を鋭くし、心の有様を表現することを求めます。その繰り返しは茶の湯の場合、常に自分の心を日々入れ替え、即今只今の心境で人との出会い、季節の出会い、歳時等を取り入れていなければなりません。そういう師匠の姿に常日頃接すると、習う弟子も自然に毎回の稽古や茶会に興味を持ち茶の湯の楽しさ、深さを理解しながく稽古が続いていくと思います。

日本社会の規範や美徳が崩れていることを危惧をもつ人が多い昨今ですが、上田流を学ぶ社中は、私は勿論ですが師匠も弟子も「共に学ぶ」という原点をいつも持ち続けていただきたいと願っています。

原文は季刊｢和風｣第95号に記載されています。　発行所：財団法人　上田流和風堂編集室

Learn Together

Sōkei

I trust all are devoting much energy into December’s Osamegama(1), Hatsugama(2) and the start of practice in the New Year and also into preparations for other tea events and individual daily practice.

Since turning 40, I have received guidance from senior monk Harada of Sōgen temple. Some time after starting my visits I mentioned to senior monk Harada “I am quick to become tense. I start to sweat, freeze up and this makes me think that I am not suited to giving instruction in the tea ceremony”. To this I vividly remember senior monk Harada replying “It is easier for a student to follow an instructor who they can see is themself exhorting daily effort and making gradual progress.”

At the beginning of Murata Shukō’s work ‘kokoro no bun’ he writes that for a person practicing the way of tea the worst thing is to be self-conceited and self-centred. Having conceit and being self-centred leads one to envy those skilled in the way of tea and look down upon beginners. This is particularly undesirable. One should associate with a skilled person, identify one’s own shortcomings and ask for guidance. In turn, one should also assist beginners with their training. In this way people contribute to development on the whole. (My interpretation of the general meaning of Shukō’s writing.) These words advocate the importance for both those skilled in the way of tea and beginners alike to learn together with a flexible mind.In Zen there is the idea of “learn together”. As Zen forms the basis of the tea ceremony, the tea ceremony shares this idea. A flexible mind is of the utmost importance for people to learn together. Fixed ideas such as ‘one is the instructor, and students are to remain students’ only stifles a flexible mind.

Japanese culture is often said to be a culture of fixed forms. Through training by repetition one strives to heightened intuitive ability, sharpen their five senses and uncover their most fundamental state of mind. For the way of tea this repetition implies that one makes a fresh start with each day and place emphasis on the here and now. It is from this frame of mind that people must relate to others, relate to the seasons and embrace the passing of time. Students in contact with an instructor with such a mind frame will naturally have an interest in each practice and tea ceremony events. They will also realise the enjoyment and grasp the depth of the way of tea, and long continue practice.

Many people now days are apprehensive that the decency and standards of Japanese society are crumbling. Be this as it may, it is my hope that both instructors (myself included) and students alike within all groups learning the Ueda School of Tea keep the spirit of “learn together” as their fundamental starting point.

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1 The last formal tea ceremony of the year.

2 The first formal tea ceremony of the year.

稽古 Keiko 19年4月21日

銘 Mei

茜色 ・Akaneiroとは、染料植物アカネの根で染めた暗い赤色をさします。夕暮れ時の空の形容などに良く用いられます。今の時期は特に夕方の空が美しい茜色に染まり、立ち止まって夕焼けを眺めることが多いでしょう。“Akane” refers to the dark red colour that results when roots of plants of the madder family are used for dyeing. It is also widely used figuratively to refer to the colour of the sky at dusk. Especially in this season the evening sky is tinged with this colour and one can stop and gaze at the beautiful spectacle.

お菓子：南瓜しぐれ

しぐれの生地に南瓜餡が包んだお菓子です。

平常心

ある日、ひとりの僧が先生にこうたずねた。

僧「先生、道の修得に努めるにはどうすればよいのでしょうか。」

先生「“腹がへったら飯を食い、疲れたら寝ることじゃ。」

僧「みんなそうしているんじゃないですか。」

先生「とんでもない!大抵、そうではない……..　食べている時はいろいろと欲望をめぐらしておるし、寝る時は寝る時で、様々に計算をめぐらしておる」

多くの人が、毎朝、昨日の束縛から抜け出てやっと目をさますのではないか。心を陳腐にさせるすでての危険物をほうり出し、本性のままに暮らす事が大切なんだ。「平常心」こそが道なのだから

(参考書：「マンガ 禅の思想」　蔡志忠・作画　和田武司・訳　野末陳平・監修　講談社)

Heijyōshin - Presence of mind

One day, a monk called upon his sensei.

Monk: “Sensei, how should I go about my efforts towards enlightenment?”

Sensei: “If you’re hungry, eat; if you’re tired, then sleep.”

Monk: “But doesn’t everybody do that?”

Sensei: “What are you saying!?! For most people, that’s not the case at all.

When people eat they are preoccupied with desire and when people sleep they still have this and that ticking over in their mind.”

For most people, it isn’t until they awake each day that they finally break free from the fetters of the day before. Therefore, it is important to take away those things that are apt to make one’s mind stale and go about living in line with one’s basic nature. ‘Heijyōhin’ refers to this way of living and therefore is the way towards enlightenment.

稽古 Keiko 19年4月14日

銘 Mei

照葉・Teriha草木の葉が紅葉して美しく照り輝くこと。Teriha refers to the beautiful, almost luminescent colours of autumn vegetation.

物を持つとき 堀内宗心

‘人さしの指の力は軽くして

ただ中指に気をこめて持つ’

これは私の父、不仙斎[1]の歌ですが、彼は点前の中で物を持つときには、必ず親指と中指とに気持ちをこめて持つようにと、出張していました。これは点前をする人の境界[2]にも関係することがあります。親指と人さし指で物を持つことは、物をつまむことと同じことであります。人さし指は「知」の象徴であるため、人さし指に集中しますと「知に走る」といって、知覚的に物を把握するだけのことになります。

　　ところが親指と中指とで物を持ちますと、身体全体が物と一体となっていることが感ぜられるはずで、物と自分とが一つの心につながるのであります。物を持つとき、物に触れるとき、人さし指で触れる場合と、中指で触れる場合とでは、自分の身体での受け止め方が違います。これは、実際に体験すれば感じとることができるのであります。物と自分の間に働く大きい真理の仕組みがあることに気づくのは、禅の片鱗[3]に触れはじめるときでもありますが、脳医学的にも証明できるようです。人さし指の神経は脳の中枢神経にはつながっていませんが、中指の神経は脳の中枢神経につながっているということです。そこで、たとえば窯の蓋をとるときには、親指と人さし指と中指の三本で持ちます。茶入の蓋のように小さな物は、二本で持ちますが、必ず親指と中指で持つべきで、人さし指の力を軽くして持つように心がけます。

　　茶碗も茶杓も蓋置きも同じことです。

　　点前中、たとえば茶筅を使うときなど、小指が離れている人がありますが、それは人さし指に力が入っているために、ほかの指がばらばらに離れてしまうのであります。中指に心を移せば、自然と小指までが揃うようになります。人さし指の力を軽くということは長生庵流の点前の極意ともいえますが、日々のけいこで意識していれば、自然と身につくことであります。
[1] ふせんさい　[2] きょうがい　[3] へんりん

参考文献：　堀内宗心、「おのれを磨く日々のけいこ」、世界文化社、2005

Handling Objects

“Reduce the tension of the index finger;

handle by concentrating one’s energy to the middle finger”

This is one of my father Fusennsai’s verses. He always stressed that when handling objects during the temae, one should always concentrate their feelings and energy into their thumb and middle finger. And not just during the temae, this focus on the thumb and middle finger should be present throughout all activities. Picking up something with the thumb and index finger amounts to pinching something. The index finger is also a symbol for our conceptual ability. By concentrating with our index finger, we operate with and therefore only “grasp” an object within the boundaries of our conceptual thought.

When holding an object with your thumb and middle finger however, there should be a feeling that the object has become one with the body and that the object and the body are connected in a single, greater essence. Also when holding an object, the way your body reacts to the object differs according to whether your index finger or middle finger is in contact with the object. You can experience this at practice. When one realises that there is a great mechanism of truth operating as one interacts with objects, one starts to catch a glimpse of Zen. There is also scientific evidence to support the significance place on the middle finger. The middle finger is joined via the central nervous system to the brain but the index finger is not.

There are times when the thumb, index and middle fingers (three digits) are used to handle objects; handling the lid of the kama for instance. There are also times, such as handling the lid of the chya-ire when only two fingers are used. In all these cases, one should always be sure to handle the object primarily with their thumb and middle finger and to reduce the tension of the index finger. It is the same for the chyawan, chyashyaku and futa-oki.

During the temae, sometimes people’s little fingers stray when handling utensils such as the chyasen, Fingers stray from being aligned together when a person focuses their energy in their index finger. If your spiritual wholeness is flowing through your middle finger, all fingers down to the little finger will naturally come into alignment. Removnig the tension from the index finger is one of the key teachings asserted from Chyosei-an and if one is conscious of removing the tension from the index finger in daily practice and at keiko, one will naturally come to handle objects in this way.

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稽古 Keiko19年4月7日

銘 Mei

虫の音・Mushinone　秋になるとコオロギがよく鳴きます。なんと秋らしい音でしょう。秋が深まっていくとともに、寂しく聞こえてきて、やがて消えていくのは、無常を感じさせるものです。（参考：　http://page.freett.com/roman/chasha9.html）

The chirp of crickets can be heard all around with the arrival of autumn. And what a characteristically autumn sound it is! As the autumn grows deeper their chirp sounds all the more melancholic and eventually it disappears altogether, making us feel the transience of existence.

お菓子：ひよこ

Ｓｗｅｅｔ： ｃｈｉｃｋ

餡玉をういろう皮に包み、ひよこ形にかたどったお菓子です。

Sweet bean paste encased in sweet rice jelly and shaped to represent a chick.

イースターは、キリスト教だけではなく、それ以前の風習でも、生命と復活を祝うものです。イースターのひよこは新たな命を象徴しています。

Easter, not just for Christianity but also for other traditions coming before it is a celebration of life and rebirth. The chick at Easter symbolises new life.

恵美さんは蝋燭の光で盆点前を稽古しています。

Megumi practicing the bon-demae by candle light.

上田宗箇流のお茶

上田流は桃山時代に生まれた武家茶です。桃山の武家茶は当時の武将達が死と隣り合わせの厳しい日々の中で、一刻（ひととき）の心の静けさを求めることを特に求めた茶といえます。

上田宗箇流の点前

上田流の点前は凛として美しいとよく言われています。それは、次の2つの理由があります。１つは、点前の動作（服紗捌き、柄杓の扱い方）が直線で組み合わせていることにより、無駄のない清々しさを生みます。もう1つは、呼吸と同じく内から外への動作（茶筅湯治、茶盌を回す、茶を点てる）が多い事です。点前も深く進むと呼吸と一体になるのです。内から外への動作が基本になるということは、呼吸と一体になりやすい、ということです。

直線の組み立てで無駄のない清々しさ、内から外への動作で呼吸と一体になる強さ、この２つにより凛とした美しい点前となります。

器物と身体

道具と身体が一体となる事が理想です。そのために体が前かがみになったり、手先だけで扱わないことです。基本的に体の中心で扱うことが大切です。おへその高さで、膝より3センチ奥、脇が卵一つぐらい開けてゆったりとした安定した姿勢で物を扱います。物を持つときは親指と中指の2本でしっかり持ち、人差し指を添えます。物を置く時は手先だけでなく、体を使って置きます。そして、目は扱っている道具と一緒についていきます。物と体と手と目が一つになって動いているから一体となるのです。(参考：広島大学茶道部)

The Ueda Sōko School of Tea

The Ueda School is a school of tea that originated from the samurai class in the Momoyama period (1568-1598). The warlords of this period lived in a ruthless time where the fear of death was present in daily life. Accordingly, tea of the Momoyama period samurai class in particular is a style of tea that seeks quietude for the mind.

The Temae of the Ueda Sōko School

The temae of the Ueda School is often said to be dignified and beautiful. There are two reasons for this appearance. First, the actions of the temae comprise of straight lines that bear a no-waste, ‘fresh’ appearance (e.g. folding of the fukusa (fukusa sabaki) and handling of the ladle (hishaku)). Secondly, numerous actions are performed similar to the inside-to-out flow of the breath (e.g. cleaning the whisk (chasendōji), rotating the chawan and whisking the tea). The temae can be performed in harmony with the breath if one continues dedicated practice. Inside-to-out is the fundamental direction of actions so that one can more easily move at one with the breath.

These two aspects of no-waste, fresh-looking actions comprised of straight lines and the strength of actions performed in harmony with the inside-to-out flow of the breath contribute to the dignified and beautiful appearance of the temae of the Ueda school.

Utensils and the Body

An ideal of the Ueda School is for utensils and the body to come together in harmony. One therefore does not slouch or handle objects by moving just the arms. Instead, handling objects from the central axis of the body is of fundamental importance. Objects are handled with a composed and stable posture; at navel height, 3cm behind the tip of the knees and with the space of an egg open under the arms. Objects are held firmly with the thumb and middle finger and the index finger is added more lightly. Objects are not placed down just by moving one’s arms; the whole body is used when placing objects down. The eyes also focus on the utensil that is being used at that particular moment. Harmony is achieved when the utensil, body, arms and eyes all move together.