The 63rd National Sencha-do Tea Gathering 全国煎茶道大会

In every May, there is a large Sencha-do Tea Gathering at ObakusanManpuku-ji temple 黄檗山萬福寺 (a kind of Makkah of Sencha-do), Uji 宇治, Kyoto 京都, over two days. In this gathering, various schools of Sencha-do have a ceremony.

I attended the gathering as a guest on May 19th. 

As a guest, you can visit three ceremonies with one ticket. 

It's a precious opportunity to know about other schools, how they serve, how they arrange, how similar and how different... It's very interesting.

I attended the gathering by Bifu-ryu school 美風流.

The theme of the arrangement was 《 the cosmic dual forces (yin陰 and yang陽) and the five elements (metal金, wood木, water水, fire火 and earth土) in Chinese cosmology 陰陽五行》.

The guests were guided by a group of five people, according to the number on the ticket you received when you arrived at the tea house and taken to one room either wood(blue), fire(red), earth(yellow), metal(white) or water(black), like a fortune telling.  

The room I was attended was the black (water) room.

It was arranged so beautifully. 

There were various kind of "black", stand out in the subtle soft light coming through the Shoji障子 paper of the sliding door ー glossy texture of the lacquer, mat black of the wood or pottery, shades of Sumi墨ink,  Raden螺鈿 (mother-of-pearl work) glittering modestly...

The shades of the green maple leaves or Shoji were reflected on water filled in a lacquer tray.

Black (water) in five elements expresses winter or north. It might remind of the darkness or the extreme yin, but I don't have a bad impression of the extreme yin, because you can only look forward to the coming yang, having more the light. There is a gentle hope and expectation. 

It's said that

＊The space where yin and yang cross and five elements are in order, nature, people, things and matters make a good harmony.

＊There is stillness in motion, and there is motion in stillness.

＊Yin reaches the extreme then becomes yang, and yang becomes yin by reaching the extreme.

Months and days goes by, seasons rotate, everything changes and circulates... but there is an established rule in each change.  The rule is very clear and simple.

The rule which harmonizes with the nature or universe, found by ancient people has been told In our life or tea culture.