Tea ceremony making comeback among men

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Tea ceremony making comeback among men

By YASUYUKI SAITO
Kyodo News

The tea ceremony, long a key component in premarriage training for women, is gradually drawing interest among men in search of healing after a hard day's work, bringing yet another weapon into the Japanese war on stress.

One Monday evening in Tokyo in September, more than a dozen men of various ages gathered in a spacious Japanese-style room at a house in Shinjuku Ward for a tea ceremony. Compared with other weekdays, men outnumbered women conspicuously.

"Men are probably coming on Mondays because that's when other men are likely to come, said Sowa Akiyama, 64, a teacher at Urasenke tea school. "People regardless of gender are trying to calm down emotionally through the tea ceremony."

One of the male students said the tea school makes him feel like he's on another planet.

"The classroom is a totally different world after a hard day's work. It is a precious time for me to feel at peace," he said.

Pen, a design magazine for men, issued a special edition focusing on tea ceremonies in February. The magazine Sarai did the same in April. Both editions quickly sold out.

Akira Ozaki, 42, deputy editor of Pen, said the image of the traditional rite is changing.

"Tea ceremonies are shaking off a traditional image of a culture lesson and strictly observing the rules of etiquette," he said.