“Japanaroo” is an exciting new initiative allowing people to celebrate multiculturalism and exchange with Japan in Australia.
It was really difficult to cope summer heat before air conditioning. Chajin tried very hard to make their guests feel a little cooler by special 点前 temae and utensils .
Here are some examples ;
炉 ro is a sunken hearth and produces heat to boil water and warm up the room. Room heater function is important during cold winter, that is why it is placed between the guests and the host.However, this function is not needed any more in late spring. 透木釜 sukigi-gama is often used during the last couple of weeks of April in Japan, just before moving into 風炉 furo season. 透木釜 sukigi-gama is a large and rather flat 釜 kama with a wing/ wings and it sits on 炉壇 rodan. It is large enough to hide red hot fire.A pair of wooden sticks are placed between kama wing and 炉壇 rodan to protect 炉壇 rodan and to improve air circulation. See Photo 2. 平蜘蛛 hiragumo-gama and 平丸釜 hiramaru-gama have a wing like Saturn’s ring. While 裏甲釜 uragou-gama has detachable wings. See Photos 1 and 4. It can be used as a usual kama without wings. This 裏甲釜 uragou-gama has a 共蓋 tomo-buta ( kama lid made of cast iron ) with 掻立釻 kaitatekan handle. It usually sits up at the front, and it is flipped back with 茶巾 chakin when 茶巾 chakin sits on the lid. See Photo 3. Several different timbered 透木 sukigi are available.利休好 Rikyu-gonomi—- 朴 hou ( magnolia)宗旦好 Soutan-gonomi—- 桐 ( paulownia)竺叟好 Chikusou-gonomi—- 桜 ( cherry wood )圓能斎好 Ennousai-gonomi—-梅 （ plum wood )
透木釜 sukigi-gama is used in mid summer to hide red hot fire in 風炉 furo as well.
The tea ceremony moves with each season. The host considers it when preparing each element of a tea ceremony: the hanging scroll, the flower arrangement, the tea bowls, what to wear (especially if the host is a woman), the incense, and the wagashi (Japanese sweets) to serve before the tea. In Japan, kumpu kaze minami yori kitari (the fragrant wind comes from the south) is a popular scroll in late May (Hounsai Daisosho himself produced a hanging scroll with this short verse).
The verse on this member’s scroll is from a poem by Su Dongpo (東坡,1037 – 1101), a calligrapher, gastronome, painter, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and writer in Song dynasty China. However, the history of the verse goes back much further, to when Emperor Wenzong (809-840) of the Tang dynasty said: “everyone loves the long summer day, even if they suffer from heat stress”. The poet Liu Gongquan (778–865) added a line referring to relief from the cool southern wind.
Two hundred years later, Su Dongo wrote that the verse illustrated a lack compassion for the common people on the emperor’s part, and he re-wrote the verse in the form:
Kumpu minami yori kitari
Denkaku biryo o shozu
The balmy summer breeze comes from the south,
It becomes a bit cooler in the palace.
This is still hard for a tea novice to understand. The full meaning comes from the interpretation that Zen masters put on the verse. Every day we are obsessed with our problems, but if only we only allow these to be blown away by the scents of a refreshing spring breeze then we can taste enlightenment.
Su Dongpo lived in the west of China, in what is now Sichuan province. His verse is clearly about summer. However, in Japan the verse is popular in May and June when on fine days there is often a light breeze from the south, kumpu. In European tradition it is a west wind, or zephyr. In Sydney, the equivalent is a sea breeze in summer.
