Tea Ceremony

I finally got the chance to participate in a tea ceremony. It was a lot more impressive than I expected it to be. At first it seems very simple and plain, but it is full of important details. There is a lot of beauty in the simple utensils, and the tradition has a very interesting history. If I'm not mistaken, politeness and respect play a very important role in the ceremony. There seems to be an infinite number of possibilities to be rude. Some people spend a life time studying the ceremony. One thing I learned for sure is that it is not really about tea. Strangely it reminded me of Karate somehow. Maybe because of the way we were sitting, bowing, and the precision of every detail. Most likely it was the precision of even the smallest movements that reminded me of the Katas in Karate. It was fascinating! I'll probably be adding pictures to this post later on.