Tea Ceremony

Description

The Tea Ceremony is an ancient, highly ritualized practice said to have its origins in the court of the Shogunate. It continues to be practiced in many locations across Creation, in various forms and with various degrees of authenticity, including amongst the Dynasts of the Realm (particularly House Tepet and House Mnemon, and once amongst the fallen Houses Kurosa, Iselsi, and Jerah), in Cherak, in the River Province (Calin, Thorns (even under the Mask of Winters), and to a lesser extent in Lookshy, and in Murak amongst the Islands of the Southwestern Threshold.

The Tea Ceremony demands precise implements and behaviours from both those serving the tea and those consuming it. These can be divided into subsections: Decoration, Implements, Tea, and Process.

Decoration

The Tea Ceremony must always take place in a square room within a building surrounded by a seasonal garden. Upon each wall must be a single wallscroll, marked with a brushwork painting whose subject is strictly defined by season:

Air:
- Ascending: Swallows amidst a bamboo grove.
- Resplendent: Clouds amidst tall pine trees.
- First two weeks of Descending: A blossoming cherry tree in a snow-covered garden.
- Last two weeks of Descending: Bluebirds in snow.

Water:
- Ascending: Gulls on a shore.
- Resplendent: Great Blue Herons standing midstream in a river.
- Descending: Wigeon ducks amidst water lilies.

Earth:
- Ascending: Skylarks flying high above white orchids.
- Resplendent: Tree Sparrows in the eaves of a temple.
- Descending: Pheasants  concealed in marsh grasses.

Wood:
- First two weeks of Ascending: A blossoming cherry tree by a garden pond.
- Last two weeks of Ascending: A sunset blazing pink and purple.
- Resplendent: Wood Ducks nestled amidst ivy-covered branches.
- Descending: Cicadas singing under a full moon.

Fire:
- Ascending: Lazuli Buntings in an orange orchard.
- Resplendent: Koi fish in a flowing river.
- Descending: Deer under red maples.

Calibration: The Tea Ceremony cannot be performed during Calibration.

 

Implements

The tea ceremony is undertaken using a set of tools and dishes which also varies with the season. The dishes which remain consistent throughout the year are a black metal kettle, a carved jade or stone water urn with bamboo ladle, a whisk carved from a single piece of bamboo, and two wooden tea boxes, one square and one cylindrical, each with a bamboo scoop of appropriate shape. With each season come additional tools: a large cylindrical cup for thick tea, a small bowl-shaped cup per guest for thin tea, and a heat source. All tools are kept outside the serving chamber and carried in by the attendants. Only one trip is made: if an attendant cannot carry all components there is no choice but to add further attendants.

Air: Thick tea cup painted with bare tea bushes. Thin tea cups painted with grey clouds. A stone hearth onto which the kettle is placed directly.

Water: Thick tea cup painted with tea bushes just beginning to bud. Thin tea cups painted with dark blue waves. A stone hearth onto which the kettle is placed directly.

Earth: Thick tea cup painted with tea bushes in full leaf. Thin tea cups painted with brown stones. A stone hearth onto which the kettle is placed directly.

Wood: Thick tea cup painted with tea bushes ready for harvest. Thin tea cups painted with green leaves. A brazier atop which the kettle is placed.

Fire: Thick tea cup painted with a scene of farmers harvesting tea. Thin tea cups painted with red candles. A brazier atop which the kettle is placed.

Tea

The Tea used in the tea ceremony is always green, and always from the Blessed Isle... while some lands have difficulty obtaining such, even they acknowledge only leaves from the center of Creation can truly complete the ceremony. The tea used is of the highest quality, ground into a bright green powder, and stored in a cylindrical box. It is used to make thick tea. These valuable leaves are packed for transport in boxes padded with additional leaves... though these would be considered good quality on their own, they are used to make the inferior ‘thin tea’ in the Tea Ceremony.


 

Process

The Tea Ceremony is highly choreographed, every single step and motion predetermined with no room for variation. The attendants begin the ceremony when the guests are seated by bringing in all needed equipment. The kettle is heated, then powdered tea is carefully scooped into the large cup, and hot water ladled overtop. The angle at which water enters the cup determines its Honoured Gate, the point by which all else must come and go.

The tea is then whisked a precise number of times depending on the number of guests, and placed in the centre of the table with Gate facing the one who whisked. Starting from the left, each guest carefully turns the cup and raises the Gate to their lips, drinking a precisely equal share, before placing the cup back in the center of the table. By the time the last guest has taken tea, the cup will be empty, each guest having drunk an equal share.

The guests are then served confections, often sugar cookies stamped with seasonal patterns matching the scrolls on the walls and embedded with candied seasonal fruit or seeds.

Once the guests have each finished one cookie, the attendants place one scoop of tea leaves and one ladle of hot water into each thin tea cup, serving the tea to each guest. At this stage, the attendants gather up most of their tools and all but one withdraw, while guests relax and enjoy the tea and confections at leisure. At this point, conversation may begin, the preceding steps undertaken in complete silence. The first topic of conversation must be an exchange of comments on the wall hanging decorating the room (according to Shogunate traditional brushwork critiques), followed by comment on the quality of the tea, followed by comment on the perfection of the ceremony, after which the rules of topic are relaxed.

To be able to properly undertake the Tea Ceremony is a Perception + Lore roll, Difficulty 2. 
Appropriate commentary on brushwork is a further roll of Perception + Linguistics, Difficulty 2.