My 50th Birthday Chaji

After I requested a birthday Tea, Harvey & Holly decided to make it a full-blown Chaji, minus charcoal ceremonies. A Chaji is a formal Japanese Tea ceremony that includes a meal, koicha and usucha.


Harvey directed the preparations and goings-on behind the scenes. Holly was our chef extraodinaire, making many delicious dishes.


Kristin was Teishu, our Tea host, and Annie was her assistant. Shana was our kimono expert, who later helped in the kitchen.

I was Shokyaku, or principal guest. John and Tony were the middle guests, and Pia was Makyaku, or last guest.

We arrived an hour early so Shana could dress us in kimono. The men's are simple, with just one obi in a simple knot. However, the women's kimono are much more involved, with several small obi in addition to the big obi. It's all rather snug, and enforces good posture. Harvey says many Japanese women can easily dress themselves, but we're mystified how. The kimono were a bit small for most of us robust Westerners, so that keeping them from gaping was a challenge.


After the preliminary greeting and drinking of toasted rice tea, we were invited into the Tea room for Kaiseki, a light meal served in many courses. Much sake was also served. Receiving dishes and pouring sake for each other kept us so busy that it seemed we barely had time to appreciate all the beautiful and delicious food.





At the end of the meal, we exited the Tea room and retired to the living room, which served as our waiting room. After the Tea room was once again made ready, a gong called us to return. First Teishu made us koicha, a very thick tea that we found difficult to drink. I found that it made me even more lightheaded than all the sake I drank.




The koicha dogu (Tea utensils) were different from what we usually see in practice, so examining them was a treat.


After koicha we had usucha, a thin tea that is much easier to drink. Different dogu were used, and we had a chance to admire these as well.


All too soon, the Chaji was over, and we needed to change clothes and leave so our hosts could clean up. Although my legs hurt after four hours of Chaji, they did much better than I expected. I suspect that the sake helped.

In the evening, after all was set back in order, most of us met at my house for an after party. Pizza and beer might not compare to the Kaiseki dishes and sake, but the company was superb.