First tea ceremony belongings 初めての持ち物

When you are invited to a Japanese tea gathering or when you start practicing Japanese tea ceremony, you could prepare a few things to bring with.

◆"扇子sensu"(folding fan) is the first thing you can prepare. When you make a bow as a greeting you put sensu in front of you to show your respect. It works as "結界 kekkai (boundaries)" barrier in order to constitute a border line between himself and another person or himself and something. 

It's said the history of sensu began from Heian period (794~1185). People used sensu not only for fanning but for sending as a gift or courtesy writing "和歌 waka (tanka poetry)" on it or sending as a love letter putting a flower on it. Sensu was a part of communication at the moment. (I think it's creative and romantic!)

In daily life, sensu is recognized as a tool for fanning. But in tea ceremony there is only few opportunities to open up sensu. And the size of sensu used for tea ceremony is different from the one for daily life. The length of sensu for women is about 15cm (5寸sun) and for men is about 18cm (6寸sun) in general.

◆"懐紙kaishi"  is a packet of double-folded Japanese paper. In tea ceremony, it's used for placing the sweets on from "菓子器kashiki"(bowl/plate for sweets). So kaishi is like your own dish. 

The meaning of the kanji letter "懐" means one's inside pocket and "紙" means paper, as kaishi is tucked inside the front of a kimono. (But you can put kaishi in a fukusa basami (pouch for a silk wrapping cloth and other small items used for the tea ceremony)).

Kaishi could be used for the other occasions as well, for example, when you need to wipe your finger or when you can't finish up the sweets or meals to wrap and put in the fukusa basami.

Kaishi is useful other than tea ceremony. You can use it instead of handkerchief or tissue, wrapping paper, coaster or letter paper. It is used in "書道Shodo(calligraphy) ", too.

◆"菓子切kashikiri/楊枝yoji" is a toothpick used for cutting sweets in tea ceremony.

Kashikiri is made from various material such as wood, bamboo, stainless steel, silver or ivory. 

But the one made from the wood of spicebush is traditional and significant in tea ceremony. It is specially called "黒文字kuromoji" (the spicebush in Japanese).

There are some reasons kuromoji tree is used for kashikiri. 

When kiromoji is in your mouth, you can sense the fresh flavor of the tree as it has the bactericidal effect. It's said that long time ago people use kuromoji for cleaning their mouth. Koromoj tree is also elastic therefore suitable for Kuromoji.

In the formal tea gathering called "茶事chaji" in "茶の湯chanoyu", kuromoji is served with sweets. Some people bring the used kuromoji back for the manner or for the memory writing the date on. But on the other gathering or usual tea class, you should bring your own Kashikiri.