9.12.2011

Independence Day & Tea Ceremony / Itsenäisyyspäivä ja teeseremonia

In past weeks there have not been anything really special going on plus I have been rather lazy with writing. Two weeks ago on Sunday I went to see a concert of Oita symphony orchestra and last Saturday I went to see Oita University's Jazz Club's performance. The symphony orchestra's concert was really good and I enjoyed it very much. The Jazz concert had some really good parts but it was bit too long and especially the talking parts in between the songs were too long, but all in all it was a nice concert.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eipä ole tässä ihmeitä tapahtunut parin viikon aikana ja muutenkin on laiskottanut niin ei ole kauheasti tullut kirjoiteltua taas. Mutta toissa sunnuntaina kävin Oitan sinfoniaorkesterin konsertissa, joka oli mielestäni erittäin hyvä. Viime lauantaina puolestaan kävin katsomassa Oitan yliopiston jazz-kerhon konsertissa, joka oli hieman liian pitkä, lähinnä pitkien väli spiikkien takia. Mutta muutamat osat esityksestä olivat todella loistavia joten kaiken kaikkiaan ihan kelpo konsertti sekin oli.


The view from the Oasis 21 tower (symphony orchestra played in the building)
Näkymät Oasis 21 tornitalon huipulta, sinfoniakonsertti oli samaisessa talossa



Tuesday evening I went with my flatemate to meet up with few other Finnish students in order to have Independence Day dinner. First we had a nice lunch in a Korean style restaurant (at least I think it was Korean…) and then we had drinks in couple nice bars. It was a nice different kind of Independence Day, plus it was really nice to talk Finnish for one evening. :D Night life of Beppu needs further examination since it seemed a nice.

Today at school we had a Japanese tea ceremony in our Introduction to Japanese History course. Few of us even could try to prepare the tea. We had the simple version of the ceremony. We got first a sweet that you are suppose to eat before drinking the tea cause the tea is quite strong and bitter. When you get the tea you need to offer it to the person sitting next to you by saying “o-sakini?” and when the person next to you says “doozo”, then you thank the tea master (“otemaenchoudaiitashimasu”). Then you turn your tea cup twice clockwise so that the front of the cup is facing away from you and then you can sip the tea. When you are finished you turn the cup back with turning it two times counter clockwise. After that a tea master will ask if you want more, if you want you say “onegaishimasu” or if not you say “kekkoudesu”. The simplest tea ceremony is making the tea plus this serving routine and that’s it, but longer versions can take hours and include kaiseki (expensive traditional Japanese dinner), which of course will make the whole experience cost hundreds of Euros.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tiistaina menin kämppikseni kanssa Beppuun tapaamaan muutaman muun suomalaisen opiskelijan itsenäisyyspäivän merkeissä. Menimme ensin syömään maukkaan päivällisen korealaiseen (tai ainakin oletan sen olleen korealaistyylinen ainakin) ravintolaan, jossa nautimme erittäin maukkaan aterian. Sitten vielä siihen päälle parit drinksut parissa kivassa baarissa. Oli mukavan erilainen itsenäisyyspäivä ja erityisen kiva oli jutella koko ilta omalla äidinkielellä. :D

Tänään koululla saimme kokea japanilaisen teeseremonian historian kurssin yhteydessä. Meillä oli lyhyt ja yksinkertaisin versio teeseremoniasta, mikä pitää sisällään itse teen valmistus-, tarjoilu- ja nauttimisseremoniat. Pitkän kaavan mukaan seremonia voi kestää tunteja, mutta silloin siihen kuuluu kaiseki-illallinen (kallis perinteinen japanilainen päivällinen). Pitkän kaavan mukaan pidetty seremonia voi sitten kustantaa satoja euroja.


Our teacher demonstrating how the cup needs to be turned / Opettajamme näytti mallia miten kuppia pitää pyöritellä jne.

Really sweet / Melkoisen makeaa oli

My friend tying out the tea making / Kaverini kokeilemassa teen valmistusta

We also heard some information about kimonos / Saimme myös hieman kimono tietoutta

2 kommenttia:

  1. Very cool. What is that fruit that is with your tea ceremony photos? And what is the significance of this tea ceremony? :) Does it happen frequently.. or.. ?

    VastaaPoista
  2. The flower is made out of cookie dough(or something like that) and inside there is read beans. It was very sweet. But it nicely balanced out the flavor of the tea.

    Tea ceremony came from China with Zen buddhism during early Samurai times. They developed it into a Japanese style. It was practiced by the samurais. Point of its probably the artness of it, it shows what was the sense of beauty back in those days.

    I do not know does it happen frequently, but I guess often enough that it still exists :D I have seen such things in some festivals and some places in Kyoto for example offer it to the tourists too.

    VastaaPoista