Tea Ceremony & Jacques Mayol
- Mariko Miki- The Blue
- Feb 19, 2023
- 2 min read
Kisa, a project unit co-founded by a tea master from the Omotesenke school and Sae Yamane who worked with me on Local Focus, English guidebook on Kamakura & Enoshima book, organized a workshop to learn the art of tea ceremony (sadō) in an approachable yet authentic way at WITH Kamakura, a newly opened café and rental space in Hase, Kamakura.
The venue is a 220 years old traditional gasshō-zukuri Japanese house that was relocated from Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture about 70 years ago.
Now, it has been revived by local creators—led by Ryu Nakamura, a professional surfer and creator—into a vibrant place where people gather and new things are born.
The grand beams and pillars, which would be nearly impossible to obtain in today's era, support the spacious interior.
Although it's a traditional Japanese house, the space has been renovated with a modern touch.
The ryūrei (table-and-chair style) tea setting felt casual, but the graceful and refined movements involved in preparing a single bowl of tea reminded me of the beauty of “ichigo ichie” (“one time, one meeting”).
In the café, there was a photo exhibition of Taisuke Yokoyama, a regend surfer and photographer, and one of the photo works featured a quote from the late Jacques Mayol, a regend free diver, that unexpectedly brought me to tears 😢.
May the Dolphin's light and spirit guide me through my "human" life!
It’s not easy to maintain a dolphin spirit in human society...
But interestingly, Sae who prepared the tea is a writer and editor of Local Focus, Ryu Nakamura who produced this venue is the brother of Go Nakamura who filmed the promotional drone video for Local Focus. And Taisuke Yokoyama who took the photo of Jacques Mayol is also part of the creative team, mainly focusing on landscape and portrait photography.
There may not be a dolphin connection, but everyone here is somehow linked through the sea.
In this space filled with such cherished connections, this moment and this single bowl of tea truly embodied “ichigo ichie.”
WITH Kamakura https://with-project.jp/about/
Go Nakamura https://www.lswf.co/go-nakamura
Taisuke Yokoyama https://www.instagram.com/taiseye/
LOCAL FOCUS promotion video https://vimeo.com/277768701
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