Notices by Camellia Tea Ceremony (camelliakyoto@mastodon.social)

🦕🦖GINKGO🌿🍂

“The ginkgo tree is from the era of dinosaurs, but while the dinosaur has been extinguished, the modern ginkgo has not changed. After the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the ginkgo was the first tree that came up. It’s amazing.”
-Nakanishi Kōji (中西香爾 1925-2019).

Ichō are rather amazing trees, resilient to insects, disease, air pollution, fire and even radiation: a tree 1.1km from the epicentre of the atomic blast in Hiroshima in 1945 shocked scientists by recovering without deformations.

If you were dropped into a teahouse at a random time of year, without access to the garden or any idea of the temperature outside, then the sweets served are your best bet for narrowing down the date...
Ichō momiji' (銀杏紅葉 'autumn-leaved ginkgo') herald deep autumn.

#Japan #Kyoto #京都 #ginkgo #wagashi #和菓子 #traditionalsweets

In the past women considered the tree symbol of fertility and breast-feeding as aerial-roots that developed in older ginkgo were known as 'chichi' (乳-breasts).

These unique structures grow down to the ground to form roots or up to sprout leaves.

#ginkgo #銀杏 #autumn #Kyoto #京都 #Japan

👣🤔AUTUMN ALONG THE PHILOSOPHER'S PATH🍁🍂

Fall vibing.

#永観堂 #Eikando #autumn #紅葉 #Kyoto #京都 #Japan #ThePhilosophersPath #哲学の道 #Tetsugakunomichi

🌬️HUT OF THE FALLEN PERSIMMONS😮

A straw raincoat hangs beside the door at Rakushisha (落柿舎), indicating that the host is home.

The small cottage was home to Mukai Kyorai (向井去来), chief disciple of Matsuo Bashō. It was here Bashō composed 'Saga Nikki' (嵯峨日記) in 1691.

#Arashiyama #嵐山 #Kyoto #京都 #persimmons #Japan #Rakushisha #落柿舎

🐗YOUNG BOAR FESTIVAL🌾

The first sweet to be enjoyed with the opened hearth is 'inoko-mochi' (亥の子餅), a simple rice cake made with new grains, and often imitating a boar.
In the lunar calendar people enjoyed inoko-mochi on the hour, day and month of the boar (now November).

The 'young boar festival', known as 'inoko' (亥の子) or 'gencho' (玄猪), was held on the day of the boar in the 10th month (lunar calendar), the beginning of winter.

#亥の子餅 #boarfestival #wagashi #和菓子 #inokomochi

🔥🍵HEARTH & HOG🐗🍡

Rittō (立冬), the first day of winter in the lunar calendar (this year on November 7th), marks the beginning of the new year in the tea world.

The sunken hearth, 'ro' (炉), is opened up and will be in use for the next half a year.

#Japan #Kyoto #立冬 #京都 #winter #hearth #openingthehearth

☕ TEA DAY😋

Happy 'Tea Day' (紅茶の日 'Kōcha-no-hi')...specifically black tea☕️🎉

It celebrates Daikokuya Kōdayū (大黒屋光太夫 1751- 1828) enjoying black tea for the first time with Russian high society (and possibly Catherine the Great) in 1791.

#紅茶の日 #teaday #Japan #大黒屋光太夫 #紅茶 #Kyoto #京都

🌿TEA CEREMONY IN THE TEA FIELDS🍵

A few weeks ago Nao-san made the long trip into the hills of Ujitawara (宇治田原) to enjoy tea amongst the blooming tea fields of Yuyadani (湯屋谷).
As the flowers suck up precious nutrients, it's not so common to see them bloom free.

#Japan #Uji #宇治 #matcha #抹茶 #teatime #teaplantation

The soil here is known as 'Jika' (地香 'Fragrant Land') thanks to the huge efforts that go into making organic tea.

Fertilizer is made from a mix of pampas and humus, and no machinery is used to care for the bushes or pick the leaves. The resulting tea has a very different taste!

#Yuyadani #湯屋谷 #Japan #Uji #matcha #maccha #抹茶 #tea #camellia

Yuyadani (湯屋谷) is the birthplace of sencha green tea (煎茶発祥の地) in Japan. In ancient times this region sat on the sea bed, and the soil conditions are perfect for growing tea.

Nowadays the valleys and hills have little rain and remain free of frost in the winter🙌

#Japan #Uji #Ujitawara #Kyoto #京都府 #tea #camellia #teaplants

Beyond the tea fields the woodland has been allowed to go to seed, with tea plants springing up here and there.

Japanese tea cultivation began in Ujitawara in Kamakura times (1185-1333), and the method of manufacturing green tea developed here in the mid-Edo period (1603-1867).

#matcha #抹茶 #tea #teaplantations #Uji #宇治 #Japan

The tour of the tea fields ended with an informal tea ceremony in a woodland clearing. It was a magical experience sitting amongst the tea bushes that provided the leaves for the tea we were enjoying🍵

#Uji #宇治 #Japan #matcha #抹茶 #茶道 #teaceremony

Astonishingly, it can take a few hours to harvest all the leaves from one small bush.
The organic fields look very different from the undulating ridges of tea we often see in promotional images for Uji.

Although small, these bushes are almost 200 years old!

#matcha #抹茶 #Uji #tea #camellia

In 1191, having gained a certificate to become a zen teacher, the monk Eisai (明菴栄西) returned to Japan with zen scriptures & tea seeds. For many, this is the origin of matcha in Japan. Eisai would later write the book Kissa Yōjōki ('Drinking Tea for Health').

Eisai took the tea seeds to his friend Abbot Myōe (明恵 1173–1232), who had helped rebuild Kōzan-ji in NW Kyōto. On the mountain slopes of Toganoo Myōe established a tea 'garden'.
It survives to this day, "the birthplace of tea in Japan".

A commonly named sweet available around this time is 'yamazuto' (山づと), which can be translated as 'gift from the mountains'.
It refers to the bounty of chestnuts now appearing in shops.

Kagizen's (鍵善良房) 'yamazuto' mimics a chestnut emerging from its burr🌰😋

#chestnut #chestnutmoon #栗 #wagashi #和菓子 #Kyoto #京都 #Japan

🌰THE CHESTNUT MOON🎑

Chestnuts are typically a symbol of October's moon (lunar calendar=13th day/9th month), often referred to as 'kurimeigetsu' (栗名月 the 'chestnut harvest moon').

As we can't wait for the next full moon, we're enjoying some chestnut delights for the equinox.

#Japan #Kyoto #京都 #chestnuts #栗 #wagashi #和菓子 #fullmoon #moon

It's likely higanbana were introduced from China at the same time as rice cultivation.
The poisonous flowers were once commonly planted around graveyards and fields to deter animals (particularly rodents) from feasting on corpses and rice.

Some have suggested there are over 1000 names for this one flower!
Doku-bana (毒花 poisonous flower)
Shibito-bana (死人花 flower of the dead)
Yūrei-bana (幽霊花 phantom flower)
Kitsunebana (狐花 fox flower)
Sutegobana (捨子花 abandoned child flower)
Samadhi flower (三昧花)😇

The autumn equinox coincides with the Buddhist observance of 'Shūki Higan-e' (秋季彼岸会), when offerings are made at family graves.

Because of this the flower has, for many, come to symbolise the afterlife.

Higan (彼岸) translates as 'Other Shore', a reference to the far shore of the Sanzu River (三途の川 Sanzu-no-kawa/'River of the Three Crossings'). Similar to the River Styx in Greek Mythology, the dead would cross the river to reach the afterlife.

#Higanbana #彼岸花 #autumn #autumnequinox #Japan

Red higanbana may be most prevalent, but spider lilies also come in white and yellow varieties😲

Within Umenomiya Taisha's (梅宮大社) sprawling garden is a quiet grove filled with colourful higanbana.
The shrine is always a treasure trove of flowers (and cats)🙌

#Japan #Kyoto #京都 #彼岸花 #higanbana #equinox #redspiderlilies #UmenomiyaTaisha #梅宮大社