What to Wear and What to Bring to a Tea Ceremony

This article is written by Seiya H.

The photo shown was taken during a tea ceremony experience held at the Tea Business School (In formal practice, walking barefoot on the tatami is not permitted, and socks must be white. There are many detailed rules to follow).

I would like to offer step-by-step explanations of tea ceremony etiquette for those who are new to the practice.

(1) What should you wear?

In tea ceremony, wearing kimono is traditionally required. However, in modern times, especially for practice sessions, more places allow participants to wear Western-style clothing. In any case, clean and neat attire is essential. Before entering the tea room, it is important to change into clean white socks.

Make sure to bring an extra pair in your bag so you can change into them upon arrival at the venue. Before practice begins, remove all accessories such as rings and wristwatches. Handling tea utensils while wearing these items may cause scratches or damage, so participating with nothing on your hands or wrists is very important.

(2) What items do you need for tea ceremony?

• Sensu (fan).
  • Used when greeting others. By placing the fan between yourself and the other person, you create a symbolic boundary that expresses respect.
  • During the Sengoku period, when tea ceremony became popular, taking out a fan instead of a sword showed one’s intention not to fight.
  • Men use a fan about 6 sun (18.2 cm) long, while women use a fan about 5 sun (15.2 cm).
• Fukusa
  • A special cloth used to purify utensils during the tea-making procedure.
  • Men use purple fukusa, while women use vermilion or red.

• Kobukusa
  • smaller cloth than the fukusa, used when presenting or supporting utensils.
• Kaishi (paper)
  • Paper used when receiving sweets. It is used in a stacked, folded form.
  • The size differs between men's and women’s kaishi.
• Yōji (sweet pick)
  • Also called kashikiri. A small pick used to cut and eat Japanese sweets.
• Fukusabasami
  • A case or pouch used to store the above items.
• Ko-jakin (small tea cloth)
  • A small white cloth used when drinking koicha (thick tea).
  • It is prepared slightly damp and wrung out, then placed inside a chakin-ire (cloth container).
• Tenugui or handkerchief
  • Used to clean the hands.

Basic movements: How to bow

There are three main types of bows in tea ceremony: Shin, Gyō, and Sō. They are used differently depending on the situation. Because bowing is done many times in tea ceremony, it is important to learn these basic forms.

Common points:

• Sit with correct posture and make eye contact with the other person.
• Place both hands on your knees.
• Slowly lower your body, sliding your hands forward as you bow.
• In the world of tea, extremely deep bows such as dogeza are not performed.

Shin (formal bow)

The most polite and deepest bow.

Place both palms fully on the tatami.

Used when everyone bows together or when a guest is about to drink matcha.

Gyō (semi-formal bow)

Lower the body so that the second knuckles of your fingers touch the tatami.

Mainly used for greetings between guests.

Sō (casual bow)

Lower the body until only the fingertips touch the tatami.

This is the shallowest bow and is used by the host when greeting during the tea-making procedure.