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Recently, Claremont McKenna College students were
treated to the unique opportunity to interact with Japanese college
students and experience the vibrant cultural traditions of tea.
Against a colorful backdrop in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum,
complete with a Japanese umbrella and the vivid red and white of
the Japanese flag, 40 students from Soka University in Japan performed
an authentic tea ceremony.
The students, members of the Soka University Tea
Ceremony Club, prepared and served tea to CMC participants during
the March 7 ceremonies. Following the formal protocol that has developed
over the history of the tea ceremony, the Japanese students welcomed
the audience, then silently prepared the tea with precise movements
and dance-like elegance. Dressed in traditional kimonos, the students
carried bowls of steaming green tea to the tables of participants,
beginning with the guests of honor, former CMC president and life
trustee Jack Stark and his spouse, Jil. When the ceremony was over,
the students ceremonially thanked the audience in Japanese.
As part of the group’s objectives through
international travel and performances, the students then presented
traditional Japanese music and dances with messages advocating world
peace, and paper fans patterned with peace-symbolizing cherry blossoms.
During a brief presentation afterward, the international students
encouraged CMC’s future leaders to value peace and cultural
understanding, citing a need for change in the world, and for healthy
relations between the United States and Japan.
The event ended with a student cultural exchange,
allowing CMC participants to exchange small gifts with their Japanese
counterparts, and to discuss (as far as language gaps would permit)
the ceremony itself.
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Green tea is first prepared . . .
. . . then served to guests by student-hosts from
Soka University in Japan . . .
. . . A fan-dance perfomed by the student-hosts follows
the traditional tea ceremony . . .
. . . adjourning moments later with quiet pleas
for world peace and healthy relations between the U.S. and Japan.
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