Tea Ceremony Demonstration
2024/4/17
On April 17th, the Embassy of Japan hosted a Japanese tea ceremony demonstration at the Ambassador’s residence in collaboration with the International Club of Ottawa (ICO).
In his opening remarks, Ambassador YAMANOUCHI Kanji said that he was very happy to have the opportunity to introduce Japanese tea culture, which provides peace and harmony to people.
Following the introduction by Ms. Isabella Abols from the ICO, there was a demonstration by Chadō Urasenke Tankōkai. After Ms. Valerie Mespoulede’s explanation about the history of the tea ceremony, Ms. Sōkō Ueda, Urasenke Second-degree Instructor, performed a Ryu-rei style ceremony using Misonodana table setting. Ms. Mespoulede gave a detailed explanation of each movement to help participants understand the demonstration better. She not only explained the decoration setting of the tearoom and tea utensils as well as the procedure, but she also presented the spiritual discipline which is of great importance in the Japanese art of tea.
After the demonstration, many questions were raised in the Q&A session. About 60 participants deepened their understanding towards Japanese tea culture and their interest in Japanese culture represented by the tea ceremony.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador YAMANOUCHI Kanji said that he was very happy to have the opportunity to introduce Japanese tea culture, which provides peace and harmony to people.
Following the introduction by Ms. Isabella Abols from the ICO, there was a demonstration by Chadō Urasenke Tankōkai. After Ms. Valerie Mespoulede’s explanation about the history of the tea ceremony, Ms. Sōkō Ueda, Urasenke Second-degree Instructor, performed a Ryu-rei style ceremony using Misonodana table setting. Ms. Mespoulede gave a detailed explanation of each movement to help participants understand the demonstration better. She not only explained the decoration setting of the tearoom and tea utensils as well as the procedure, but she also presented the spiritual discipline which is of great importance in the Japanese art of tea.
After the demonstration, many questions were raised in the Q&A session. About 60 participants deepened their understanding towards Japanese tea culture and their interest in Japanese culture represented by the tea ceremony.
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| Opening remarks by Ambassador Yamanouchi |
Introduction by Ms. Abols from ICO |
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| Tea demonstration |
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| Q&A session | Ambassador Yamanouchi, instructors and ICO executives |