As in my home country of the UK, tea is an important part of Japanese culture and everyday life.
The Japanese tea master Sen no Rikyū developed the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, elevating the tea-drinking and the tea room to a philosophy and an art form:
“The simplest object, framed by the controlled simplicity of the teahouse, stands out in mysterious beauty, its silence holding the secret of temporal existence. Each guest is permitted to complete the experience in relation to himself. The members of the company thus contemplate the universe in miniature, and become aware of their hidden fellowship with the immortals.”
Joseph Campbell The Hero with a Thousand Faces
The artwork in the photo is an original one-off, available from my Etsy store here.
Calligraphy by Vicky 