I began to learn tea at 50 years old. Therefore, it was very difficult to remember the procedures to make tea, and it took long time to master the procedures. But there were some merit of late learning.As mentioned before, tea ceremony is the unification of Japanese culture, and the relationship of human being. Therefore, my 50 years of life experience can be utilized every places, and it also affects tea hut design.
Especially, the experiences of old Japanese culture include elementary school and junior high school life, where the old culture remained just after the war, high school's ancient Japanese literature and old Chinese poem lessons, and tour guides for my guests from western countries to Kyoto and Nara.
The most important human relation experience was the 3 and a half years life in Washington DC. In Washington DC, I had to invite around 20 guests to my home twice a month. How to get satisfaction of the guests was the matter of concern.
If I had learned tea from my young days, my knowledge of how to make tea would have increased, but I could not make good tea ceremony as now. Tea ceremony is the reflection of my life.
At the beginning of 20th century, there were many good tea ceremony conductors, who were owners of big companies, and I think they could manage good tea ceremony because of their plentiful experiences of social lives. For myself, my late beginning of tea lesson give me a good influence to conduct tea ceremony.
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