Monday, March 29, 2010

Seiza, the sitting style in the tea room

Hello, everyone! This weekend, we went on a cherry viewing picnic to Kamagami- shrine in my town. It was cold and rainy in the last week, so the cherry blossom did not get in to full bloom this weekend yet. But it was still pretty and we enjoyed the flowers and lunch.





In the tea room, a host and guests sit on their knees with a straight back like in this picture. It is a Japanese formal sitting style on floor, which is known as saiza. When I sit in seiza, I can feel a sense of tension and calm in a same time. Our life style is getting westernized, so nowadays we don’t have many opportunity to sit in seiza in daily life, especially for young generations. Sitting in seiza for a long time will give numbness in your legs. When I started taking the tea lesson, I could not sit though a whole temae for about a half hour. I’m getting used to seiza and can sit longer now. Sitting in seiza in the tea room make me feel peaceful.

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