January 2023 - Page 2 of 3 - Life is a Journey

This 200-year-old Book Shows a Different Aspect of Samurai

They were avid practitioners of Ikebana (flower arrangement)

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

I found this book at Kyoto Art and Antiques warehouse sale in Seattle several years ago. As always, this book was buried in a pile of old books in a basket.

The book was in pretty bad shape. The front page was torn. I still don’t even know the title of this book. I could barely read on the last page that it was printed in Kyoto in “文政九年”.

I bought this book because I found the page which was showing three samurai men sitting on their knees, taking a closer look at the large Ikebana flower arrangements displayed in the alcove. And another page was showing a samurai and a Buddhist monk arranging flowers.

After I bought this book, I confirmed that “文政九年” was 1826.

This book was published 197 years ago! When it was published, Japan still closed its doors to western countries and was enjoying almost 200 years of peaceful time without wars. The samurai clan was still reigning the country.

Two hundred years ago, mostly men practiced Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement). Especially samurai, the ruling class. This worn-out old book is evidence of this historical fact.

In peaceful times, masculinity was not enough for the ruling samurai clan. They were expected to be highly cultured, and practicing Ikebana was one of them.

If you visit Japan today, you will see more than 90 % of people who practice Ikebana are women. Even here in the US, most of my Ikebana students are women. Somehow there exists a certain gender bias about practicing Ikebana.

If you are a man and interested in Ikebana, please don’t hesitate. I hope this old book will encourage you to take up learning Ikebana. Believe me, it’s fun. Even the samurai knew about it!

My First Acrostic Poem

In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 16 of 52

Photo by Amanda Flavell on Unsplash

Even though poetry is the last thing I would have imagined myself trying, how can I reject this fun prompt? So here it is!

Ambition

Knowledge

Excellence

Master

Intelligence

In my life 1.0, I would have chosen these words above. Those days seem to be galaxies away.

…

I have aged since then. I hope that time passed has made me a little wiser. In my life 2.0, my choice of words is:

Artistic

Kind

Earthy

Merciful

Inclusive

Can I achieve the second poem before my life 2.0 expires?

Flowers Are My Best Color Consultants!

Learn color coordination from nature

Photos by Author Akemi Sagawa

During the lockdown due to COVID-19, my husband and I made a new daily habit of taking a walk in the neighborhood in the afternoon.

March, April, May… The front yard of most neighboring houses became more colorful day by day. I don’t know how many photos I took!

Pink and yellow. White and red. Purple and blue. Yellow and blue… Some are harmonious with similar hues. Others are striking high color contrast.

“Oh, I never thought of this color coordination!”

I don’t know even half of the names of the flowers, but it doesn’t matter. Those flowers have become my color consultants!

Here are some examples. Which one is your favorite?

Why My Mother Is Smarter than Me

Because she can calculate with a soroban in this age of AI

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

The photo above is my soroban that I got over half a century ago. In those days in Japan, every student was required to get one in the first grade at school. I remember learning how to use it a couple of times in math class. I never bothered to learn privately to further practice using it.

My mother, on the other hand, learned how to use soroban more proficiently when she was young. At the age of 84, she doesn’t even know how to start a calculator app on the phone, but she can add, subtract, multiply, and divide several digits of numbers quickly, much quicker than I can, using this simple tool.

Who is smarter, me or my mother?

I can perform simulations that my mother wouldn’t even comprehend using Excel.

I can search hundreds more recipes for cooking rice than my mother knows by heart using my smartphone.

But can I say I’m any smarter than my mother?

I think not. The very fact that I call it a “smart” phone implies that now the gadget is smarter than me. I’m not the smart one.

I’m simply outsourcing my brain power to external gadgets like computers and “smartphones,” aren’t I?

Without such gadgets, I’m useless. Even if these gadgets are around me, if electric power is out, all these gadgets become useless.

In this age of AI, I’m thinking of resisting this trend of “outsourcing our brain power.” Writing manually like this is one example. I’m seriously thinking of practicing soroban next. Then calligraphy…

Recently more and more people are testing to generate articles using ChatGPT here on Medium. Many of them are flawless and some of them are even funny. If machines can write better than I can, what’s the reason for my writing? This question has led me to write today’s article.

5 Secrets to Fully Enjoy Your Matcha Green Tea

It’s all about gratitude and respect

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

In my previous article, I showed you how to enjoy Matcha at home. I hope my tips worked for you.

You made a bowl of matcha, with fine foam on the surface. Your mouth is filled with sweetness. Now you are ready to drink the green liquid.

But wait! Let’s deepen your experience by adding these 5 tips.

Hold your tea bowl with both hands

Feel the warmth of the bowl. Look at the light green, silky foam. Inhale to enjoy the aroma – Just like you swirl the glass before you sip wine.

Bow a little

While holding the bowl with both hands, bow a little to show respect to someone who made the tea (it’s you!), people who took the effort to grow the tea leaves and to make them into Matcha, and nature that provides us with clean, pure water.

Turn the bowl twice

If the bowl has some design and it’s facing you, turn the bowl clockwise a little so that you avoid touching your lips on the front design.

Now you are ready to have the sip. Enjoy!

Make a noise at the last sip

The tea is almost gone in the bowl. You can make a little noise when you have the last sip. It’s a sign that you enjoyed the tea so much and you are done.

Take a closer look at your bowl

Turn the bowl counterclockwise so that the front design is facing you again. While holding it with both hands, take a closer look at the bowl. Do you know who made it? Even though the bowl is manufactured in a factory, someone must have handled this bowl. Think about that person and thank them for their efforts to make it.

In the Japanese tea ceremony, you will be doing these five gestures as a guest with more formal steps. The purpose of each little gesture is to show gratitude and respect to the host and to your surroundings.

It reminds you that you are not living alone, that even this little bowl of tea wouldn’t have been made available without so many people’s and nature’s involvement.

By taking a little extra time to add these gestures, I hope your teatime will become an opportunity to experience deep gratitude and respect, enriching your life.

A Simple Step to Brighten up Your Bathroom

With flowers! – Because you always spend some time there every day

Flowers in the bathroom: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

The graceful line. The vivid color of the petals. The sweet fragrance… A stem of flowers can bring joy to your life! The question is, where you want to keep it.

I suggest, don’t forget the bathroom!

It’s a smaller space compared with the other rooms in your house, like the living room, the dining room, or the kitchen. The relative significance of the little flower is greater in the tiny bathroom than in any other room.

Without exception, there is a mirror in the bathroom. Place a stem of flowers in front of the mirror, and you get to view two!

You go to the bathroom at least several times a day. While you are there, most likely you are enjoying the solitude, a precious time in your busy daily schedule! Keep a flower as your company in there. It brightens up the space as well as your heart!

1/10/2022 (Tue) – A Hidden Story of the Character “Snow”

What a Kanji Character tells us

In Japanese, we use three different types of characters: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

Both Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic, and each has only 46 characters.

Kanji, on the other hand, is ideogramic. Just like English words, there are thousands of Kanji characters, and each Kanji character has a certain meaning.

How was the Kanji character developed? What is the original meaning?

Each character has its own story to tell and learning its story is one of the fun for learning Kanji characters.

Snow is written as 雪 in Kanji.

My dear friend Shizu Usami is a professional calligrapher and has deep knowledge of Kanji’s history. Recently she created a Youtube video explaining how the character “雪” was developed over time.

When I found out about this week’s prompt in Dr. Preeti Singh’s article on Reciprocal, I thought it is a great opportunity to introduce Shizu’s video.

Not only will you learn about this Kanji’s story, but you will also get to learn how the Kanji character is written in calligraphy.

Shizu’s beautiful brush strokes, her straight posture, her focus, and her serenity while she moves the brush on the paper… When she writes the character, maybe she feels as if she becomes part of snow herself?

Here is Shizu’s video. I hope you will enjoy it!

…

Did You Know You Dance during Tea Ceremony?

Hatsugama – New Year tea gathering in a 8-tatami-mat room: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

Can you guess what I had to learn first to practice Japanese tea ceremony?

No, it’s not how to make Matcha.
No, it’s not how to drink Matcha.

The very first thing I had to learn was how to sit, stand, and walk on tatami mats properly.

The image above is a part of the 4-and-a-half tatami-mat tea room, a typical size. In the center of the room, there is a kettle for hot water.

Before you enter the room, you sit down on your knees in front of the closed sliding door. You slide it open, bow to the guests, stand up straight, and place your left foot just outside the tatami mat.

The first step you enter into the tatami mat should always be your right foot (1).

You place your left foot a little forward (2), turn around with your right foot (3), put both feet together (4 and 5), and sit down, and close the sliding door.

Once you close the sliding door, you stand up, step your feet so that you move your body 90 degrees (6 and 7), step forward with your left foot (8), and step into the next tatami with your right foot (9).

Walk forward, left (10) and right (11), then move back diagonally and put together your feet (12 and 13), and sit down.

In Urasenke School, the general rule for walking on the tatami mat room for is:

When you come in, always step the next tatami mat with your right foot.
When you go out, always step the next tatami mat with your left foot.
In order to walk on half a tatami mat, you take four steps.

At first, I didn’t understand why we have to be so strict about our footsteps. How tedious! What does it have to do with serving tea?

After practicing tea ceremony for several years, I came to realize the importance of keeping our body movement smooth, as well as rhythmical. The movement is not always at the same tempo. Sometimes we make a swift move, sometimes we move rather slowly. Overall, each movement has to look beautiful.

You move your body beautifully, with certain rhythms, and tempos. Isn’t it what dancing is?

When I realized this simple fact, my tea ceremony practice was stepped up one notch. When I serve tea, I’m performing dancing!

At Hatsugama 初釜, the New Year tea gathering, my teacher served this beautiful and delicious meal for every one of us students. She spent hours preparing for it the day before. Thank you very much, Mrs. Takemura, my dear teacher!

5 Signs I Found that The Spring is Near

Nature never stops

Spirea bush: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Percy Bysshe Shelly

It’s shivering cold outside. The sky is gray with not even a slit of blue. The drizzle continues. All the deciduous trees and bushes in my tiny yard have lost leaves and look dead…

No, they are not dead!

A closer look at Spirea: Photo by Author

When I look closer, I see tiny, hard, young buds and shoots on each branch. The plants are constantly carrying nutrients from their roots to each branch.

Well before we come to admire the vivid green leaves and bright color flowers in the spring, they are preparing for that moment. Nonstop.

I’m no different from these plants. I’m part of nature. So I ask myself.

Am I preparing for my flowers to bloom? Even when there is hardly any sign of the spring shown? Am I striving for my growth today?

These 5 plants are my teachers!

The Best Place for A 24-Hour Digital Detox

I chose Koyasan in Japan

Daimon in Koyasan: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

When I visited Koyasan several years ago, I was amazed to see so many foreign tourists, especially from Europe. I asked a backpacker from England why he decided to visit Koyasan. He said, “didn’t you know Koyasan is the second most popular place to visit in Japan, after Kyoto?” Whatever the travel guidebook he read, I agreed with it.

When I finally went back to Japan after three years of separation in May 2022, two places were my must to visit: Kyoto and Koyasan.

In May 2022, Japan still restricted visitors from abroad. A foreign citizen couldn’t get a visa without an invitation from a Japanese organization or proof that their Japanese parents or children are living in Japan.

Since I had renounced my Japanese citizenship when I was naturalized in the US (because Japan doesn’t recognize dual citizenship), I had to get a visa to enter Japan to see my mother. At least in May I no longer had to prove that my mother was seriously ill.

Because of the travel restriction, there were hardly any foreign tourists in Japan. Both Kyoto and Koyasan were quiet as ever.

As usual, I stayed one night at one of the shukubos (宿坊) in Koyasan. Shukubo is a temple that allows people to stay overnight.

In addition to lodging, it provides meals (dinner and breakfast) and often lets visitors experience some of the Buddhist rituals such as meditation or shakyo, a practice of transcribing sutra text by hand. In Koyasan there are so many shukubos, each of which has a unique history.

For no reason, I felt like trying something different this time: a 24-hour digital detox.

Kondo in Koyasan: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

In one and a half hours, the train took me from the middle of the busy Osaka-city to a quiet mountainous area of Koyasan. From 10:30 am to noon, I walked around and took pictures: Daimon 大門 and Kondo 金堂. Come noon, I switched off my phone and kept it off until noon the next day.

I kept walking along the winding road,

checked in at Jimyoin 持明院, the shukubo I had made a reservation,

unpacked in one of the rooms upstairs,

took a walk in their vast Japanese garden,

strolled a long corridor in the temple,

sat down and looked at each fusumae 襖絵, pictures painted on the sliding panels (Jimyoin had so many of them!),

took a long bath and relaxed my aching legs,

enjoyed delicious Shojin Ryori 精進料理 (monk’s vegetarian meal),

read a manga book depicting a life of Kobo Daishi (弘法大師 774-835), the founder of Koyasan,

slept in the futon,

participated in the Goma 護摩, a Buddhist ritual conducted in Jimyoin at 6:30 the next morning,

enjoyed a simple breakfast,

checked out Jimyoin and walked further to Okunoin 奥之院,

and got to the station to take the cable car and train back to Osaka, at noon.

View from the Koyasan Station: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

No cell phone. No TV. No Internet. Minimum conversation. Not thinking much, but just seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting what is there…

In 24 hours, I felt like part of my impurity was replaced with the freshness of Koyasan’s pure air.

Koyasan was the right place to experience the digital detox for me. How about you? Which place would you choose? Or where did you go for your digital detox? I would love to hear your story!