Japanese Tea Ceremony

The Urasenke Chanoyu Center is a Japanese tea house that provides lessons and demonstrations. We will attend a tea ceremony and participate in the rituals of tea, all while hearing from the tea master about the significance of the ceremony and its place in Japan today.

We will meet in the lobby of the library annex building (137 E. 25^th St) and depart promptly at 2:30 pm on Wednesday. Bring:

• Subway card/fare
• Appropriate dress for sitting on tatami mats (No short skirts. Jeans are discouraged because of potential damage to tatami mats.)
• A pair of socks (no bare feet during tea!)
• Camera (we will ask permission to take pictures at the beginning of the event)

Also, the Center asks the following courtesies:

• Please avoid perfume or cologne, which interferes with the delicate fragrance of the tea.
• Please remove jewelry from fingers to avoid chipping or breaking the tea bowls.
• Please do not touch or lean on the fragile walls or paper screens.
• You do not have to force yourself to drink the tea or eat the sweets. You can take sweets home if you don’t want to consume them at the center. You may take just a sip of the tea, to taste it and leave the rest. Experiencing a different culture is the most important part of the demonstration.

We will arrive at 3, and the tour will begin at 3:15. Latecomers may not be allowed in. If you are arriving from somewhere other than Baruch, the address of the Center is 153 E 69^th St., between Lexington and 3^rd. (The nearest subway is the 6 at 68^th and Lex.)

The event will be approximately one hour.