Double cherry blossoms bloom later than ordinary cherry blossoms. Currently, they are blooming in many places in NYC.

Today, April 8th, marks a solar eclipse and a new moon. Did you see the solar eclipse? Today is the day of the new moon, so I would like to talk about my recent favorite crescent tea bowl.

A few years ago, one of my friends showed me a photo of beautiful cherry blossoms on Mt. Yoshino in Nara Prefecture, Japan. While there are famous cherry blossom viewing spots all over Japan, Mt. Yoshino holds a special place as one of the most famous.

This winter in New York has been relatively warm, and it seems like today will be even warmer. However, it's only the end of February, so it's still cold, sometimes below freezing.

A Happy New Year!  2024 is the year of Dragon. It is believed that a powerful and positive energy flows through everything, creating a lively and perfect atmosphere. The Year of the Dragon brings robust vitality, significant growth, and an overall sense of well-being.

Time goes by so quickly, and this year is almost over. How has the year 2023 been for you? December 22nd marks the winter solstice, signifying the shortest day of the year.

The beginning of November is a very important season for those of us who learn about the way of tea, known as the tea ceremony.

Late in Autumn, the sky is clearer, the nights are longer, and the leaf colors are richer. Autumn is a very beautiful season. Initially, I had planned to write about autumn waka poems that describe what ancient people thought while looking at the beautiful nature, but I want to share with you a personal story that has become a milestone for Ki-Chu New York.

Last week, I came back from Japan with perfect timing. Why do I think? It is because, fortunately, I could meet Urasenke’s Grand Tea Master at his welcoming party held at the Harvard Club in NYC. Amazingly, he is 100 years old and flew from Kyoto to NYC to host a Kencha-Shiki, Ceremonial Tea Offering for Peace at the United Nations.

I didn't even know where to start, but the primary motivation for founding Ki-Chu New York is that the tactile sensation of Japanese tableware, called 'utsuwa' in Japanese, greatly influences the flavor of food and drink. This fundamental idea remains unchanged.

Perhaps the first flower I grew was the morning glory. When I was a child, the morning glory was very familiar to me, but as I grew up, it gradually became a forgotten flower.

It is already the end of June, and every year in June, it reminds me of blue-purple hydrangeas blooming in the rain. Hydrangea has a long history in Japan, and the flowers are mentioned in Japan's oldest collection of waka poems, "Manyoshu (万葉集)", which is said to have been compiled in the latter half of the 8th century.

While walking around the West Village the other day, I came across a stunning bluish-violet iris blooming in the public garden. The iris is one of the flowers representing May in Japan.

Come spring, you'll notice that there are many cherry blossom trees in New York City besides Central Park. For Japanese people, cherry blossoms are very special flowers, so seeing them in bloom brings great joy.

Last Friday, I attended one of the most important tea gatherings at my tea ceremony school, the Urasenke Chanoyu Center, located on the Upper East Side in NYC.

This tea gathering, called "Rikyuki," is the memorial service of Sen no Rikyu, the greatest tea master who had a profound influence on the Japanese way of tea, known as the tea ceremony.

Although there had been a few extremely cold days in New York, it’s been relatively warm this year, and it feels like spring is just around the corner. However, I'm not sure that's actually the case.

The Japanese zodiac for 2023 is the year of the rabbit!