I learnt Orikata on the priveous lesson from Ms. Sato. Then I learnt how to drink Japanese tea and how to eat Japanese sweets from her. I will introduce these 2 ways.
How to drink Japanese tea
We were first shown how to take the lid off the tea correctly using the right hand movements. Hold the top knob of the lid with your right hand, then open the lid by lifting first at the front, so you can smell the tea.
Put the left hand to lid, then move the right hand from the lid to the right edge of lid.
It is then rested under the lip of the saucer using your right hand, this to stops it from wobbling on the table.
Next, hold the cup by right hand and put it on the left hand.
First you have the main design facing you so you can admire the whole pattern. Next, you turn it 45 degrees away from you and drink tea. Don’t drink tea from the main design. I never before realized that patterns on the cup had anything to do with how you drank from it.
How to eat Japanese sweet
The sweet in front of me was designed as a morning glory flower and the sweet in front of Ben was a fish pond with little fish in.
They were beautifully designed to please your eyes as well as your tastebuds. The sweets fragrance and texture is also imoprtant. To cut the sweet you first start with the quarter to the bottom right hand side, moving on to cut the piece above.
Stick quarter of Japanese sweet and eat it. Enjoy the beauty of the filling from the first piece cut then eat the remaining three quarters. Let’s enjoy looking at the layers of colors in the filling because the filling is different from inside and outside.
My sweet tasted really yummy, it was really soft mochi with bean paste inside.
When eating the sweet you hold a piece of paper, called “Kaishi” like a paper napkin, in your left hand to catch the crumbs. The pieces of paper you have used are taken home with you and not left on the table.
Try eating a cake like this next time you eat a Japanese sweet.
