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Camellia Tea Ceremony

@camelliakyoto

Sep 12, 2022 • 9 tweets • 12 min read • Read on X

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🐰🎑MOON MORSELS🥮🥰
When the Harvest Moon (お月見) and Feast of Chrysanthemums (菊の節句) arrive together, you know plates will be groaning and bellies will be full🙌

one for the dog
one for the crow...
rice cakes
犬の餅烏が餅もつかれけり
-Issa (小林一茶).
Trans. Lanoue.
#京都

@yoshimura0303

Nao-san tucks in to Kameya Yoshinaga's (亀屋良長 @yoshimura0303) 'hane-usagi' (はねうさぎ).
Break open the cute moon rabbit and add hot water to create delicious oshiruko (お汁粉), a sweet bean soup.

#お月見 #moonviewing #moonrabbit #月の兎 #wagashi #和菓子 #Kyoto #京都 #お汁粉

Each rabbit comes with a random kohaku (琥珀) moon. The phase of the moon-sweet determines your fortune...a full moon represents the best luck you can have.

Nao-san got...🥁...a full moon!🎉

A thread all about kohaku and other types of sweets⬇️

https://twitter.com/camelliakyoto/status/1547098734084833281?s=20&t=rVkwbOWPnhDYac4-S0qvnQ

#亀屋良長

We are well in to September, but Kyōto's afternoons are still scorching. Even statues are in need of a little refreshment.

Worshippers pour water on Mizukake Fudō-san (水掛不動) as a form of prayer. He sits on an orange rock known as "Kankō's Bench" (菅公腰掛石).
#仁和寺 #Kyoto

Kankō is another name for Sugawara-no-Michizane (菅原道真 845-903). Shortly before leaving for his demoted post at Dazaifu, Michizane visited Ninna-ji to bid his friend retired Emperor Uda (宇多天皇) farewell. As the emperor was busy reading sutras, he waited on the rock.
#京都

🌺THE QUEST FOR ETERNAL YOUTH💦
Chrysanthemum dew was believed to have age-reversing qualities, and from the end of the 9thC the aristocracy would drape floss-silk on the flowers before Chōyō-no-Sekku. The next morning the damp and fragrant cloth was gently wiped on faces.
#Japan

Many sweets around the time of 'The Feast of Chrysanthemums' (菊の節句) are named after the silk floss used to collect dew from the flowers.

Suetomi's (末富) 'kisewata' (着せ綿 'cotton covering') is one such sweet, depicting cotton draped on the head of a pink chrysanthemum.

Senbon Tamajuken (千本玉壽軒) makes use of kudzu to give their 'kisewata' (着せ綿) a glistening beauty, highlighting the dew so coveted by the folk at court.

Nao-san paired the sweet with a crane tea bowl. Like chrysanthemums, cranes have long been a symbol of longevity.
#Japan

As the day draws on the (already) waxing moon makes its first appearance, and so a small celebration with Suetomi's (末富) 'getto' (月兎). The yellow lower layer, made from Japanese yam, represents the full moon.
Potatoes & yams are important symbols of harvest time and autumn🍠

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Camellia Tea Ceremony

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May 28, 2024

🔔🪨😭THE GREAT BUDDHA'S WONDERS🐂💢👂

Kyōto was once home to the greatest statue of Buddha in all Japan.
4m taller than Tōdai-ji's Daibutsu, the statue stood in an immense hall in precincts now taken up by Toyokuni-jinja and Hōkō-ji (remnant of the original Buddha's home).

The great hall and last (vastly smaller) incarnation of Kyōto's Daibutsu are sadly lost, but within the neighbourhood (where once the temple precincts sprawled) are a series of wonders.
They include a great bell that brought down a ruling clan, an exploding cow, & a tomb of ears.

1) THE CHIMES OF DOOM🔔

Having seized control of the country after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu calmly waited for an excuse to destroy the rival Toyotomi clan.
His chance came with the forging of a new bell and an inscription that could be read as a threat.

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Aug 21, 2023

🙊THE MONKEY'S SLIDE🛝
At first glance the teahouse garden appears to be made up of mostly moss, pine & camellia...but if you look more closely the borders are packed thick with dozens of varieties of plants.
One of the most beautiful at this time of year is the "Monkey's Slide".

More commonly known as crape myrtle (百日紅), older generations in Japan fondly call the tree 'saru suberi' (サルスベリ the "monkey's slide").
The bark of the tree is so smooth that even monkeys struggle to get a foothold!

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #百日紅 #サルスベリ #IwataMonkeyPark

Crape (also crepe) myrtle gets its name from the appearance of its flowers, which look very much like crepe paper.
Blooming from mid-summer through to autumn, the flowers (commonly bright pink) are also known in Japan as 'hyakujitsukō' (百日紅 'red for 100 days').

#Japan #百日紅

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Jun 19, 2023

🎨A MODERN TOUCH🖌️

One of the Shōren-in's (青蓮院) most striking features greets you as you enter the drawing room...a series of bold coloured lotuses, blooming across 60 panels.
Begun in 2005, the work was created by the artist 'Ki-yan' (キーヤン/Kimura Hideki 木村英輝).
#Japan

When visiting Shōren-in, Kimura was suddenly inspired to fill the drawing room's plain fusuma with colour.

It took him two years to complete the 3 sets of lotus paintings (蓮三部作)...
🪷"Blue Illusion" (青の幻想)
🪷"Amitabha's Pure Land" (極楽浄土)
🪷"Hymn of Life" (生命賛歌)

twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Why all the blue lotuses?🤔

Shōren-in was originally constructed atop Mt Hiei as a lodging facility for monks serving at Enryaku-ji.

Shōren-bō was named after a nearby pond in which blue lotus flowers bloomed ('shōrenge'). Many famous monks, such as Saichō & Ennin, lived here. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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May 11, 2023

🚪😱HAUNTED GATES & DANCING CATS😼👻

It's been a while since I've done a #folklorethursday, so here's some local, rather less well-known tales.

Demizu was once home to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's lavish palace 'Jurakudai' (聚樂第), and the area has many strange wonders.
#Kyoto #京都

Kannon-ji's 'Gate of 100 Lashings' (観音寺百叩きの門) belonged originally to the prison at Fushimi Castle (伏見城). When the castle was dismantled the doorway was gifted to the temple🏯🚪🩸😰👋

The gate is just 1 of the '7 Wonders of Demizu' (出水の七不思議).
#Kyoto #京都 #出水

Before prisoners were set free they underwent a final punishment at the prison gate...a warning to stay on the straight & narrow.
They were lashed 100 times with a piece of split bamboo across the back. It was agonizing, & sometimes deadly!

Image thanks🙇‍♂️-bakumatsuya.com

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May 10, 2023

'May Sickness' (五月病 'gogatsu-byō') is a term for a seasonal disorder that strikes just as Golden Week comes to an end.
After the flurry of changes that take place each April, it may seem like May should be smooth sailing, but returning to work/school after the break is tough.

It may seem like a small thing, but sweets absolutely help lift a gloomy mood...

🌫️🌩️☁️😶‍🌫️🌥️🌤️🌞

Kameya Yoshinaga (亀屋良長) has done the impossible and perfectly captured the blue skies & cotton puff clouds of May in sweet form☺️

The wonderful 'hikōki-gumo' (ひこうき雲)✨

twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

While 'May Blues' doesn't sound particularly serious, in some cases it can lead to depression, anxiety & insomnia.
In April the new school/work year begins, and there's a feeling that Golden Week only helps exacerbate feelings of disorientation, mental exhaustion, & apprehension. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Apr 20, 2023

Astonishingly the temperature will soar close to 30 degrees today...the hottest day of the year so far😓

As this heat is a little unexpected we swooped on Ishidatami (石畳) for their famous matcha soft serve (抹茶ソフトクリーム). Fresh matcha is kneaded into the ice-cream🍵🍨🙌

Fresh matcha as an ingredient in cooking and baking tends to lose its flavour quickly, and so Ishidatami doesn't serve ice-cream older than 3 hours, preferring instead to make new batches throughout the day😮

#Kyoto #京都 #matcha #抹茶 #icecream #Ninenzaka #二年坂

Another favourite (though much pricier) way to cool down is with Oimatsu's (老松) cheerful 'natsukan-tō' (夏柑糖 'sugared Chinese citron')🍊🥰

#Kyoto #京都 #夏柑糖 #老松 #oimatsu #Japan #citron #chinesecitron #orange