I want to tell you about tea ceremony.

As soon as the vernal equinox passed, Mary Yamazaki set off for Beijing. It was a sunny day when she left. Birds were singing in the branches in spring, but the birds were leaving.

In the last lesson before Mari left, Yoshino cherry blossoms were in full bloom in the court, the sky was far away and the clouds were near, and the warm days were noisy. Without a word of chatting under the tree, we talked about getting together when we go to the Beijing tea party next March.

Most people do. When they are together, they may not be greedy, but they are always afraid of separation. Fear is the norm, so is parting. When I was a child, I saw the joys and sorrows of parting, and felt that "Sauvignon Blanc is like a memory, and the short love is infinite." Later, I liked the next sentence, "If I had known it was so frustrating, why didn't I know it at the beginning?" I thought there was no one better than him. After coming to the present, only one sentence is repeated over and over again, and the fallen leaves are still scattered, which surprised the western Western jackdaw. These three sentences are all from Li Bai's autumn wind poems, but at the same time they have different artistic conception. In the end, I gave up my love for fallen leaves and crows. It can be seen that things are sometimes more ordinary, affectionate and shocking.

Of all the ordinary things I am familiar with, I am most afraid of one thing, such as you and me, you and him, he and her. If you don't meet, the mountains are far apart. If you meet, the mountains are high. This has been the case since ancient times.

In the last tea class in March, I suddenly wanted to make a bowl of strong tea.

Strong tea has complicated etiquette and is much more solemn than light tea. I studied weak tea before I studied strong tea, when Miss M was with me. I pay attention to learning tea step by step, because I have gone beyond the level of first strong and then weak, so the foundation of weak tea is that M will make up for me bit by bit when he lives in my house. Including how to fold silk yarn, how to wipe a tea spoon with silk yarn, how to fold a tea towel, how to wipe a bowl with a tea towel, how to brush tea, how to drink, steps, gestures and details, M gave everything he learned in a year without hesitation.

Make tea a thousand times, and its meaning is self-evident. For example, Mr. tao qi has been making tea for decades, and he is nearly eighty years old. No matter how complicated the tea ceremony etiquette is, he can also teach it temporarily in class. She said that beautiful things are not remembered by the brain, but by the body. Physical memory comes from feeling. What should I do at this time? What should I do next? You don't necessarily answer people's questions about tea ceremony steps. As long as you kneel in front of the tea table and get close to the pot, water, bowl and spoon, everything should be like a spring stream flowing in a crevice, a hanging goose willow and falling flowers, all of which reveal beauty and nature.

The first formal tea party in my life was the Hakone Town Garden Tea Party in Hakone Town Garden. In late autumn in October, I didn't learn tea until March. I remember that there are small bridges and flowing water in the garden, the water falls across the slope, the spring is on the stone, and the stone under the steps overflows into a permanent road. Behind the shade of bamboo, it is Linshui Xuan. There is a teahouse in the porch, hidden in a mountain forest. This building was built a hundred years ago, and it is the oldest Japanese private garden in the Western Hemisphere. After listening to Memoirs of a Geisha, it was filmed here. The scenery in the garden is elegant, but at that time, strong tea will be nervous to make tea, and no matter how beautiful the scenery is, there is no time to take care of it. At that time, it was strong tea, and the dinner was full of famous tea teachers. The guest of honor is an old lady in her seventies with a kind heart. I think it has a lot to do with her smiling at me that she can finally make a complete set of strong tea etiquette and take a good step.

I kept all the things used for the first tea party, tea sets and photos specially. After that, I learned the four seasons etiquette of strong tea and light tea, and sixteen little things at the primary level. Later, at the intermediate level, I respected China's Tang objects, Tang, Song and tea sets, and set up celestial etiquette. Many advanced tea ceremonies are closely related to the foundation of strong tea. As a result, the deeper I study tea, the more I feel that if the tea ceremony can echo like a piano, those who can't know the taste of meat in March should be strong tea.

As it is not yet April, fishing pots are still used in the teahouse. During the dinner, Kobayashi Zonghe was the main guest. Since the cherry blossom season has entered at the end of March, today's strong tea is Kyoto cherry blossom mutton soup.

Thin tea bowls can be quiet or colorful. Black music teacups are the most commonly used in strong tea. At that time, Mori no Rikyū directed Jiro, the first generation music teacup, to make the first black music teacup. Later generations think that this tea bowl is simple and natural, which can best represent Li Xiu's tea ceremony thought. In the production process, Heile tea bowls are completely kneaded by hand instead of using a rotating wheel for burning pottery, so each tea bowl is unique in the world. For example, I often use this one. There are shallow fingerprints on the left edge of the engraved seal on the side of the bowl, which is easy to identify.

I came into the room with a teacup and saw a shaft hanging on the wall, which read "Laughter among Flowers", which was the last sentence in Wang Wei's Three Poems by Ban Jieyu. Kobayashi Zonghe asked him if he was talking about the deep joy of spring. Teacher Tao Chi shook his head and told the story that cool thin, the Emperor Gaozu, deeply loved the Zhao sisters and left a talented woman Ban Jieyu in the cold until she died alone. Tao qi's ancestors came from China, and he moved to Japan one hundred years ago. She is very proficient in China culture. She has been to more than ten cities and visited the Silk Road twice. She read the words, told me the details of Ban Jieyu's story, and said that when she went to Yangzhou more than ten years ago, she saw the calligraphy and painting dried up in an ancient shop, so she chose this volume, saying that it was a cold spring. After that, she hung this shaft every time, so that she could pick a single golden heart (a kind of camellia) and beauty tea in a bottle for decoration in March.

Kneeling on the coffee table, Xiao Lin and the sliding door behind him were half open, and the tea bowl, teapot and spoon handle were initially set. I leaned over to greet her and then looked up. From my point of view, I saw the burning trees and flowers in the courtyard.

There is a big difference between strong tea and weak tea in cleaning tea. Wiping is a process of dust removal. The dust in the tea set is also in my heart.

Take out the silk thread from the waist and spread it out, hold its two corners and spread it out in front of you like a slight wrinkle. Move two corners to the left, fold them in half, then unfold them, and change them four times in turn according to this procedure. The fifth time, according to the folding method of silk yarn in thin tea, put it in the palm of your hand and start to wipe the tea.

I remember the first time I learned strong tea, and many of them were still in shape. Once I hosted a cherry blossom festival tea party. When I made this brush, Mr. tao qi explained it to all the tea customers. She said that this 60% discount exhibition has special significance. 10% discount, for parents, you can rest assured. 20% off, in order to make friends with friends, you can get rid of their confusion. 30% off, for the tea drinkers here, you can find their trouble. 60% off, for yourself, you can collect your heart and concentrate, brush away all the dust in the world, kneel on the tea mat, leaving only compassion and meditation, and enter the tea garden with three points of spring scenery.

Different from a thin cup of tea for one guest, a bowl of tea in strong tea is drunk by many people, and the position of lip prints remains the same when drinking.

Take two spoonfuls of tea powder for thin tea and three spoonfuls for strong tea, then put down the spoon, turn the tea leaves over, pour a proper amount of tea powder into the bowl, and then gently grind the spoon. At this time, take a ladle of water from the place where the handle ladle is submerged in the depth of the kettle and slowly pour it into the bowl. This is water injection, and water is three-quarters of tea. When the water is full, put the teapot into a bowl and gently stir it evenly. Not fast-paced, but the technique should be slow and steady, aiming at dispersing the tea powder that has sunk to the bottom.

Second, water injection, the left hand holds the tea basket horizontally, and the right hand holds the handle ladle again. The boiling water in the spoon flows down carefully, and after passing through the tea basket, the stagnant tea soup is brought into the bowl to make the last quarter. After that, brush the tea, and grind the tea basket as before, until the tea is mixed, and the soup is thick but not stagnant, slippery but not greasy, if the temperature is as good as jade. It seems that there is a good silk horse in the world, and it is beautiful and colorful.

This is actually the most difficult step, but it is the beauty of strong tea.

A bowl of tea should be shared by several guests, and how much tea powder should be poured is better. How many points are there in one injection of water, and how many points are there in another injection? All these blocks and piles depend on the experience and quantity of the tea maker. When I first learned strong tea, sometimes there was more tea and less water, and then the soup was thick and stagnant, and my throat was sore. Or more water and less tea, thin soup and lack of color. Although it is easy to eat, it is a little less solemn.

If others have the heart, they can consider it. To make strong tea is to feel the usefulness of others and their hearts.

Close the sliding door and the teahouse will become its own world. Outdoor troubles, troubles and leisure troubles have nothing to do with this place. Then bow your head to drink tea, look up as a guest, spend five minutes on it, and boil the water twice. A good tea man stared at it as if a gourd ladle, an altar, a water and a bowl were vividly in his mind. As if the warblers in spring were euphemistic, there was a beautiful person, Wan Ru, who was celebrated. Good tea drinkers also have a good heart. If tea is beautiful and water is good, strong tea means that you hang your eyes and lower your eyebrows, carefully mix the most beautiful and best in the world with a teapot, and then humbly offer it to others.

After making the tea, I turned the bowl twice in my hand and handed it over. Kobayashi Zonghe took the first sip, and I asked if this tea was acceptable. She replied, very good.

Regarding all kinds of strong tea gifts, if you put them together, I'm afraid a thousand words are hard to describe. Thin and thick tea is the foundation of tea ceremony. Since it is the foundation, there is no such thing as learning. For example, Li Bai's Poem of Autumn Wind has different feelings when read at the same time. Teacher tao qi said that making tea is like being a human being. Life is endless, and tea is endless.

As soon as the vernal equinox is over, it will be the cherry blossom season. After the tea class, Susumu Kobayashi and I visited the hospital for a while, and saw the cherry color on our heads getting stronger and stronger, knowing that the trees were full of excitement and noise.

I wonder if the strong tea made in April will be better than today.