Week 38: Wabi, Sabi, Tea-time

Tuesday: Today we had a visitor show us how to do a  Japanese tea ceremony. I found it to be very  graceful and interesting to watch (as I did not have the opportunity to do it myself), although  as a social setting and activity I think it would become kind of boring. The lady taught us about wabi and sabi. "Wabi means things that are fresh and simple. It denotes simplicity and quietude, and also incorporates rustic beauty. It includes both that which is made by nature, and that which is made by man. It can mean an accidental or happenstance element (or perhaps even a small flaw) which  gives elegance and uniqueness to the whole, such as the pattern made by a flowing glaze on a ceramic object."* "Sabi means things whose beauty stems from age. It refers to the patina of age, and the concept that changes due to use may make an object more beautiful and valuable. This also incorporates an appreciation of the cycles of life, as well as careful, artful mending of damage."* Together these words refer to a grace and ritualistic beauty, the ancient practices. The tea ceremony had very specific rules and each person had specific roles, like a theatre piece. As in theatre hierarchy is key as it determines how people speak and act to each other. It was vital to react to each "character" appropriately or else the ceremony would be destroyed. Each time it is done it is done the same way, although there are are some  very slight differences in different teahouses (e.g. number of turns on the bowl). This shows the rigidity of the performance if each "actor" doesn't do their part than the other actors will not know how to react, although slight deviations from script or blocking can be tolerated.  
*From http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/nontech/wabisabi.html
Thursday: sports day-no class
Friday: We are preparing for the break and for Argy, this means getting help on RI's and making sure blogs are caught up. Mr. Fearnehough has also assigned us the task of building a Bunraku puppet. He wants it to be able to move correctly. I think that this could be difficult, especially as our only materials are newspaper and masking tape, and anything we bring in.