Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Over a century ago, a traditional Japanese tea house on display during the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition in London was purchased as a gift for Edith Gould for her extensive gardens. The tea house found its new home on a Lakewood estate, now known as Georgian Court University.
On December 3 and 4, the history and culture of the tea house will come full circle when a contingent of 25 students and their Grand Tea Master, who runs the Hayami-ryū Japanese Tea Practitioners, visit the university campus. The Japanese delegation, ranging in age from 9 to 75, will participate in a series of special cultural exchange events with members of the campus community, including Japanese Matcha tea tastings, a seminar on tea culture and the history of the tea house, and a special ceremony and Shinto blessing for the tea house.
- Tuesday, Dec. 3, 12:30-2 p.m., Japanese Matcha Tasting, Casino Ballroom. Traditional Matcha tea and sweets from Kyoto, Japan, will be served by Hayami-ryū Japanese Tea Practitioners. Limited to the first 80 guests. (View Flyer)
- Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1:30-3:30 p.m., Tea Offering Ceremony and Educational Seminar, University Chapel. A Meiji Shrine Shinto Ritual and Tea Offering Ceremony will be live streamed from the tea house on Zoom and projected in the Chapel. The ceremony will be followed by presentations and a Q&A session from the Tea Master Hayami Sōen, Independent Art Historian Beatrice Shoemaker, and Dr. Michael Gross, Associate Provost for Academic Program Development. (View Flyer)
- Wednesday, Dec. 4, 3:30-5:30, Cultural Exchange & Matcha Tasting, GCU Mansion.
“This will be our second largest cultural exchange event since we invited nearly 30 Tibetan monks from India over 10 years ago,” said coordinator Sachiko Komagata, Associate Professor and Program Director of Integrative Health at GCU.
What makes this exchange a bit different is the personal connection between the Japanese guests and the GCU tea house. “The tea house was made by the Japanese government for the exhibition, but the house was considered either missing or just forgotten. However, Beatrice Shoemaker wrote an article that shows the potential connection between the GCU tea house and the Hayami-ryū tea school. For them, it is like a 100-year reunion.”
The article, “Lost in Translation: the journey of a Meiji-era teahouse,” traces the tea house’s journey from Japan to the Exhibition and then to Georgian Court. The tea house was designed by architect Hayami-ryū iemoto Sōen Sokyū (Niwa no Sokyū – 1840-1924), who may be distantly related to the Japanese Grand Tea Master Hayami Sōen, who is leading the Japanese contingent visit to GCU.
In keeping with Japanese tradition, the tea house will be blessed by a cleansing and tea offering ceremony. “The Shinto priest will do a traditional cleansing ritual of the tea house first, and then the Grand Tea Master will do a very special tea offering to the tea house itself. In Japanese culture, there is a belief that there is a god/goddess deity that will come down to the house and you must serve the tea to them to get the blessing,” explained Dr. Komagata. “This differs from a typical tea ceremony which is focused on connecting people through tea.”
Dr. Gross, who oversees the tea house and surrounding Japanese gardens, contributed photos and information about the history of the tea house to assist Shoemaker with her research. As a Japanese native, Dr. Komagata was intrigued by the tea house. After reading the article, she visited the Hayami-ryū school, met with the Grand Tea Master, and showed him photos of the GCU tea house. They maintained contact, and a few years later, when she learned that a trip by the Japanese contingent was being planned to the U.S., she suggested they visit Georgian Court.
This May, Dr. Komagata took nine students to visit the Grand Tea Master’s school in Kyoto, Japan, as part of a study abroad program. “We had such a great time, and he was such a great host. We are excited to return the hospitality and welcome him and his students to our campus as part of this cultural exchange.”
Guest speaker Beatrice B. Shoemaker is an independent researcher who holds master’s degrees from the Courtauld Institute of Art and SOAS, University of London. Her primary areas of interest are late 18th-century painting cycles from the Kamigata area, their history, and iconography. She has also written on the origins of Hayami-ryū, ceramics, and painting manuals, and is a member of the editorial board of Andon, the journal of the Society for Japanese Arts. She first encountered Hayami-ryū whilst researching the guest hall commissioned by the daimyo of Okayama, an early follower of Hayami Sōtatsu.
