Photo: Northbay Budokan
The Japanese tea ceremony is a significant cultural hallmark. It is a performance where the rituals of tradition are choreographed into highly refined gestures.
The ceremony embodies three spiritual concepts: peace, harmony and happiness. Held in a cosy room with few trappings and fewer people still, the ceremony is a meditative experience inspired by Zen, where its actors detach themselves from worries of the world outside, and lose their entire selves in a modest cup of tea.