[KHTS] – The seventh grade students at Sierra Vista Junior High School in Canyon Country got a taste of another culture on Thursday, as part of their world history class.
For the last 12 years, Sierra Vista has been hosting a Japanese tea ceremony for it’s students, where they taste traditional Japanese green tea and sweets and learn the culture and meaning surrounding the making and serving of tea.
Tea Master Fumi Akutagawa oversaw the ceremony.
She studied at the Edosenke school of tea in Tokyo, Japan. Since then, Akutagawa has also served as an advisor on Japanese culture in Hollywood, for celebrities like Madonna and films like “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
Julian Ely, advisor at the Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles, also attended the event.
Carol Hyland, another tea master, narrated the ceremony to students, emphasizing the need for silence and instructing students in the proper way to hold a tea bowl.
She explained that Japanese green tea is made from finely ground tea leaves that are whisked with hot water, unlike the brewed tea commonly drunk in the United States.
Hyland also said that tea was originally brought to Japan from China and that the tea ceremony goes back at least 400 years, a tradition practiced by the samurai, along with martial arts, poetry and flower arranging.
“They felt these things all required discipline and trained them and balanced their life,” she said.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
1 Comment
It is great to see middle school students exposed to cultural practices that are both enjoyable, social and also healthy. I have also introduced our children to Japanese Matcha Green teas. Did you know that you can use it as a baking ingredient? This particular food product is very high in antioxidants and is being researched by important medical institutions around the world for its high antioxidant values. I have done several interviews with leading medical researchers that are currently studying this tea, and thus far some of the research studies look promising.
Keep up the good work Sierra Vista, your students are not only getting a cultural lesson but with out knowing it you are providing them with a healthy food alternative as well.
Peter Sabbagh – Founder
Think Matcha
http://www.thinkmatcha.com