Less is More: Lessons from a Japanese Matcha Ceremony

In NYC's Flatiron District, I attended a matcha ceremony. This ceremony is a part of Japan's Samurai culture, in which they took a moment to have a cup of tea (quite possibly their last) and reflect before battle. The tea room was authentically Japanese, with small cushions to sit upon, and entirely adorned in lantern paper and bamboo.

The Globus Washitsu tea room in NYC

The first thing we did was arrange flowers. My Western eyes devoured the sight of the color and texture variety, and this was in fact the challenge. It was a lesson on picking our priorities. I was immediately reminded of what I learned from Mark Manson's The Subtle art of Not Giving a F*ck: when you give too many f*cks about everything, you don't even know which things you should give a f*ck about anymore. This was the same concept, but delivered in a more philosophical way by a kind, soft spoken Japanese man with better skin than almost every athleisure clad it-girl on the streets of NYC that Saturday morning.

Quality over Quantity

Cliché, I know, but so true. As a gardener, cutting flowers and removing them from my vase was almost painful, but it was a break from the excess of consumption that the Western mind is used to. There were 6 floral varieties, but I only used 3, and next to my fellow guest's vases, even that seemed excessive. However, the officiator of the ceremony explained that the goal is to choose one flower, and learn how to amplify its beauty. Also, the vase is part of the arrangement, not just a vessel to hold the flowers, and so creating harmony with it was part of the experience.

Our host offering some tips on how to arrange the flowers

Some things aren't meant to be

The art also prizes the concept of arranging the flowers the way they occurred in nature. If the flower grew perpendicular to the ground, they should be perfectly vertical in the vase. If they grew horizontal on a branch, they should look like that in the vase. Japanese tea ceremony flower arranging prizes the idea of not using wires, foam or any external support to arrange the flowers. This is once again, to honor the natural order of life.

Maybe I was taking this too serious

Be mindful of another point of view

We hung the vases upon the tea altar after we were done. The officiator pointed out that in some arrangements, the angle at which they were hung could either amplify or detract from the flower's beauty, and it was considered good to have flowers that faced you. In the tea ceremony itself, it is customary to bow to the person in front of you, acknowledging that you will taste the tea before them, and turn the matcha bowl 90 degrees to let others enjoy the art that often adorns them. There is an individual intimacy to the meditation that happens during the matcha ceremony, but there is also an appreciation for the collective as well. It serves as a reminder--and I would imagine even more for the Samurai-- that while we can and should be introspective, it is important to bear in mind that we are in fact members of a community, and should be mindful of our part in that.

The arranged vases. Mine was on the top left in the skinny bamboo vase

Appreciate beauty in all its forms

The flowers we were given are in season this time of year, so they weren't shipped from long distances. Our officiator suggested that since we are beholding the flowers before us, we may also appreciate the ones that we see on the way home, even if it is just a stray wildflower sprung from a crack in the sidewalk, and perhaps we should take notice when certain flowers bloom at a particular times of the year. We were instructed to drink the matcha slowly, and savor it as the Samurai would. Take time to find joy and solace in the small things. When we arranged out flowers upon the altar, we took a moment to look at our bouquets before continuing with the ceremony. Even the rice crackers served before the tea were gorgeous, painted in delicate designs that I almost felt bad to eat. There is no beauty too small to spark joy and inspiration, and we should never believe that taking time to create or appreciate beauty is a waste of energy.

Rice crackers served before tea

And of course, the matcha itself, sourced from Kyoto was delicious, far superior to the commercial tannic, astringent matcha's. And as advised, as I walked through Madison Square Park to my bus, I did in fact stop to enjoy the flowers.

Enjoy more photos of the ceremony below