In Japan, with cherry blossom season in full swing, it’s a time for contemplation. People travel from far and wide to admire the trees covered in blooms and take selfies or simply enjoy a picnic beneath a canopy of pink or white petals. This love of nature at its most fleeting naturally brings to mind the saying ichi-go ichi-e, which is an invitation to focus on the present moment, to understand and accept the transience of existence. This precept forms an essential part of understanding cha no yu, the Japanese name for the tea ceremony.
This contemplation of cherry blossom evokes tea in another way. When you ask a tea enthusiast what tea means to them, what it gives them, the word that comes up most often is a sense of “calm”. Tea soothes us – in the same way that we are soothed by this silent, joyful, blissful contemplation of cherry blossom, by scenes of delicate beauty, like here in Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, one of Japan’s most celebrated gardens.
