HAYAMI SOEN
HAYAMI RYU
PROFILE
PROFILE
HAYAMI SOEN
Born March 13, 1983 (Pisces)
Hobbies: Back when I was in school, music. Now I have fun doing just about anything that comes my way and interests me. But above all, experiencing Hayami Sotatsu’s (the founder of the Hayami-ryu school of tea ceremony) ideas is now becoming something like a hobby to me. I hope to keep on reading and analyzing his books, learning about the essence of the etiquette he developed, and conveying it to others.
How work affects my daily life: It’s a custom of mine to drink matcha almost every day. The warmth felt holding the tea bowl in both hands, time spent drinking that hot, fragrant matcha - with this, I recall all of my experiences and memories, and imagine the thoughts and feelings that went into making it. My cups of tea are a thankful and extremely blissful time with many joys, and with them I feel an indescribable sense of happiness, as if time passes more slowly than usual.
Hayami-ryu is a school of tea ceremony created by the tea master Hayami Sotatsu during the mid- to late Edo period (1603-1868). Sotatsu was also known as a “tea professor” due to his thorough academic research into how the way of tea developed into what it is, from the origins of Japanese tea ceremony to wabi-cha, the simple and rustic style cemented by Sen no Rikyu. Due to his investigation into tea ceremony’s origins, he was able to revive Higashiyama culture’s sense of tea ceremony and its serving style, earning him praise from Emperor Kokaku and leading to the establishment of Hayami-ryu tea ceremony.
As Hayami-ryu includes both existing etiquette and those created by Sotatsu, it is said that there are a good many tea-making procedures that must be learned compared to other styles. He proposed that tea ceremony is etiquette that connects people’s minds through tea and deepens their bonds, a belief that continues today.
Seeing Essence Through Hayami-ryu
Hayami Sotatsu, the founder of Hayami-ryu, regarded the concept of “keiwa seijaku” (written with four kanji characters literally meaning respect, harmony, purity and tranquility) as the foundation of tea ceremony. Tea ceremony has long had the expression “wakei seijaku,” but he reversed the first two characters to indicate that the essence of “wa” (harmony) comes from “ikei,” meaning respect or reverence. Just as people had reverence for gods and nature since long ago, having reverence is the very reason one can show consideration for others. Master Hayami explained that losing this makes it likely that we will begin to only assert things that will make it easier for oneself and categorize people as either allies or enemies, and that true harmony is achieved through reverence.
What guides us to “keiwa” - respect and harmony - is “seijaku” - silence. The “sei” part - purity - is like that of the upper reaches of a river. To put it another way, the upper reaches are the origin. A space of purity is somewhere one can look at the essence and origin, and for this, feelings of “sabi” (the beauty that comes with age) are necessary. I think that Hayami Sotatsu surrounded himself with silence and thus concluded that the essence of harmony is reverence. Silence is an important kind of space necessary for looking at the essence of things, as well as a sense of spirit that Hayami-ryu values above all else.
Origins, Essence, and Purity
I believe that for everything, it’s important to go back to the upper reaches and seek its origins. Down the lower reaches, you almost never see the very bottom of the river, and you simply enjoy looking at the surface as the water glitters. In short, you’re excited because of the superficial. Like duckweed, just floating along with the river. On the other hand, the upper reaches are pure, hiding nothing. In other words, it’s the essence, the origin. It has no right or wrong.
Making tea is an act of trying to convey this purity, this essence. For example, the path to the tea ceremony room has spots to purify oneself, like a stone washbasin, and wiping the tea caddy with a fukusa cloth is a type of etiquette intended to purify it. Walking down the path that has been swept clean before entering the tea ceremony room is like climbing a mountain; it represents the concept of “seijaku,” purity and tranquility. Tea ceremony is not about ignoring the essence of tea ceremony etiquette and trying to create an extraordinary space by blindly imitating historic etiquette. Rather, it is about performing etiquette that is aware of and expresses a purity that leads to minds connecting, and discussing various origins.
Conveying the Essence of Tradition in Kyoto
It’s part of Kyoto’s nature to change new things so they are more Japanese and enhance them. Perhaps it’s because these things have an essence with no right or wrong answer, but the power of reverence begins to work, arranging and integrating them into their current form. Even so, tradition also carries with it the potential to become tradition in name only. Rather than fretting over its form, it is important to let purity and tranquility into your heart, and if you have even the smallest question, to search for the answer and understand it, even if you must embarrass yourself. This is the spirit behind a concept that Hayami Sotatsu spoke of: learning and not being afraid to embarrass yourself at your own training place so as not to disgrace yourself at others.
With this, seeking a thing that you enjoy from the depths of your heart is the essence of arts and skills defined as “the way” of something (with tea ceremony being “sado,” or “the way of tea”). It also purifies you of countless prejudices. Even if one generation loses their status and honor, the essence will not be lost. I simply want people to connect through such essence. Tradition is often used as a superficial means for social interaction, but I want to make sure that we don’t place too much significance on social interaction and lose sight of etiquette that conveys the proper essence. I would like to keep helping tea ceremony to develop in Kyoto.
Enjoying the Now is the Heart of Tea Ceremony
In Hayami-ryu tea ceremony, we connect things that can and cannot be seen as points and perceive them as a whole. This way of thinking is expressed through our way of making tea. For example, we take the concept of things that can be seen equalling forms and polish it into a gem. That’s what the etiquette of wiping and purifying a tea caddy with silk is. The gem represents this and other points. Furthermore, the moment you lay the tea whisk against the edge of the bowl, the sound goes away. This is another point, the entry to what cannot be seen.
These points signify that the beginning and end of everything is now. What our ancestors created so that we can concentrate on the now, with all points that can and cannot be seen, is the etiquette of tea ceremony. There are many who feel uneasy, their heads full of what is to come, so I would like people to put aside even just an hour each month to drink some hot tea and feel happy talking with others, realizing that they’re truly connected and have no worries in that particular moment. This tea preparing etiquette is meant for creating times of purity and tranquility and focusing on the now. I believe that spreading this idea is my duty as Hayami-ryu’s eighth-generation head.
MOVIE
INTERVIEW
- How did you enter the world of tea ceremony?
- I was born into Hayami-ryu’s head family. My father was the seventh-generation head, and I am the eighth generation. Since I was young, I would practice tea ceremony and participate in tea gatherings; I spent life naturally experiencing the world of tea. My first time officially preparing tea for others was at six. When I was in high school, others even said things like, “Lucky you’ve got a job waiting for you,” and “I reckon it’s sad your future’s already decided” (laughs). After I enrolled in university, the more I learned about Hayami-ryu tea, the more serious and rigid it felt. But then I began to think that with my background, I wanted to unravel Sotatsu’s teachings if I had the chance to do so. This was before I graduated. Afterwards, I began working and just kept going.
- How did you research and discover more about Hayami Sotatsu?
- Hayami-ryu was passed down not orally, but through text - in other words, books. With the changing times, what Hayami Sotatsu had done until then no longer suited the second- and third-generation heads, some people found another way they preferred, and so on. In this way, Hayami-ryu continues to change. If it were passed down orally, its teachings would be overwritten. Then how it was expressed would simply be temporary, just like duckweed floating in the water. To prevent this, Sotatsu chose to write in any additions in red. Even if I am swept away by the times and change what he taught, with his words remaining, the next generation will be able to go back to Hayami-ryu’s origins and understand that certain generations were a certain way. These are his steps, his essence - what indicates his path.
- When we saw you prepare the tea, it felt as if your demeanor from when you were speaking transformed, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense; is that kind of atmosphere important for tea ceremony?
- That was a moment where our spirits connected deeply. A tense atmosphere equaling sincerity is something deeply sought for in the world of arts and skills defined as “the way” of something (with tea ceremony being “sado,” or “the way of tea”). Many things, including tea ceremony etiquette, have levels of formality known as “shin, gyo, so.” Within the atmosphere of the most formal level, “shin,” one is tense and on edge, while for “sou,” the least formal level, one is relaxed. “Shin” is being serious and sincere. I used to be bad at it. A tense atmosphere seems stuffy and unpleasant, but this is simply a surface-level feeling.When you face someone in the midst of tranquility, you might feel that you’ve resonated with a channel deep inside their heart. This kind of exchange in a “shin” atmosphere is within a comfortable space that doesn’t require words to be spoken. By the way, greetings are just as important. During practice, we always greet others first, beginning our relationship on the “shin” level.
ABOUT THIS DIALOGUE
| Price | 350,000 yen |
|---|---|
| Number of participants per group | 1-4 people |
| Available times | 10:00 am to 1:00 pm / 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm |
| Cancellation policy | 100% cancellation fee 7 days or more before the event date. |
| Payment method | Credit card only |
| Application Requirements | Participants must be at least 18 years old (Children 12-18 years old may participate if accompanied by a parent or guardian) |
| Reservation deadline | Until 7 days prior to the date of the dialogue |
| What will happen on the day | 1. Pick up at hotel 2. Arrive at location of dialogue 3. Chat and explanation about dialogue 4. Dialogue with your chosen Kyotoite 5. Drop off at hotel |