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.
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。
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。
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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