In the East Bay of San Francisco where we live, there is a high-end residential area called Blackhawk. This is where many company presidents from Silicon Valley and the San Francisco area live. They are all billionaires. It is a residential area with large houses lined up. Through my students, the people who live here were eager to experience the tea ceremony, so on a certain day in June, we hosted a tea ceremony and a simple kaiseki meal (Shokado bento). Before the tea ceremony, they asked about the dress code, so I told them it was casual. As it seemed that they did not have much experience with other cultures, we prepared chairs for the guests.

First, everyone came to the waiting area. After that, we were invited to go out into the garden, where we gave a brief explanation in the waiting area, after which everyone walked through a paved path, purified their hands at the chozu basin, and entered the tea room from the paved path. Today's scroll was "Wakei Seijaku," and the tea ceremony was performed on a long Black board decorated with glassware and other accessories. The vase was a Nata basket, the flowers were seasonal flowers from my garden, the incense holder was a scarlet fan shell, the tea caddy was a medium-sized hydrangea tea caddy made by Taniguchi Yasuho, the tea scoop was "Koke-Moss Seimizu" made by Nishigaki Daido, and the main tea bowl was a "Mushy Tea Bowl" made by Koshu, with the hope of keeping everyone healthy and free from illness. The tea was Shohaku (packed in Koyamaen), and the sweets were Kanonji manju from Hakueido in Shikoku, Japan. We tried to recreate the atmosphere of June, early summer in Japan. For more details, See Events.

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