Immersive Tea Ceremony Experience of the Ichibōan Tea House and Roji Path at Nitobe Memorial Garden7/4/2024 This May, we were pleased to lead guests on an immersive experience through the outer garden (roji) of the teahouse at Nitobe Memorial Garden as the space would traditionally be used. Everyone had the chance to slip into "garden sandals" to navigate the stepping stones, sit in the "waiting arbor," rinse their hands at the tsukubai stone basin, and enter the tea room through the nijiriguchi “crawling entrance.” Once inside the tea house, guests enjoyed a matcha tea service with a special seasonal wagashi sweet prepared by Saki Fukuda. We are grateful to Nitobe Memorial Garden for making this program possible and for allowing us the opportunity to offer this program again in the remaining summer months. Check out The Dojin Japanese Arts Society for offerings on the second Sundays of July, August, and September.
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 Zankakō 残花香 Late Cherry Blossoms at Nikkei Centre In conjunction with the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre Month of O-Hanami cultural programs, we were very pleased to partner with The Dōjin Japanese Arts Society to offer two sessions of a sakura-themed kumikō (incense appreciation exercise), where guests had a chance to experience and compare three types of highly fragrant woods in a game that incorporates seasonal and literary references. It was a wonderful opportunity for guests to engage their senses while learning about kōdō, the Japanese Way of Incense. Led by Hitomi (Tōkō) Ginnan sensei, these sessions were held in the ryūrei 立礼 style -- seated at long tables. This accessible format provided a different kind of experience from our usual classes, which are held on tatami mats. For more information about our incense ceremony classes and programs, see our Experience Kodo page or contact us by email at kodo [at] sabitea For more about the various Japanese cultural programming hosted by Dōjin Arts, see their website at: www.dojinarts.org or follow them on social media @dojinarts This weekend, we had the pleasure of hosting three hands-on nerikō-making workshops for The Dōjin Japanese Arts Society. Guests had the opportunity to learn about the significance of nerikō and its use throughout Japanese history before blending and rolling their own incense to take home. Each participant made one of three specially formulated recipes: one of two of the "six classic scents" (六種の薫物）, Baika 梅花 (Plum Blossom) and Kurobō 黒方 (Black One), and an original blend for 2024 Zuiun 瑞雲 (Auspicious Clouds) specially crafted by the Senzan Goryū school of kōdō (incense ceremony) in Kyoto, Japan. Thanks to everyone who attended. We hold these workshops once or twice a year in the winter months. To find out about future offerings, please join the Dojin Arts mailing list to receive notice of future programs.  We are pleased to announce a new partnership with The Dōjin Japanese Arts Society, a newly founded non-profit dedicated to building understanding and community through the appreciation of Japanese cultural arts and traditions. To launch the Dōjin Arts program series, we are pleased to host an exhibition of ikebana arrangements by members of the Sogetsu Vancouver Branch (Sogetsu School of Ikebana) in our tea room space at SaBi Tea Arts. Please join us for a bowl of matcha and traditional sweet as we celebrate these sister art forms that flourished under the influence of Zen Buddhist aesthetics and philosophy during the Higashiyama era (late 15th century). Members of Dōjin Arts and the Sogetsu School of Ikebana will be available to chat and answer questions about their organizations. To allow visitors time and space to view the flower arrangements, this will be a relaxed, open house setting, not a formal tea service. Donations in support of The Dōjin Japanese Arts Society are welcomed. Sunday, October 22, 2023
11:00 am - 5:00 pm at SaBi Tea Arts We look forward to introducing you to Dōjin Arts. Tea on the Patio at We are thrilled to collaborating with Yuwa Japanese Cuisine, serving matcha on the patio and featuring a selection of traditional Japanese confections by Yuwa's own in-house wagashi artisan, Saki Fukuda. Date: Monday, August 7 (BC Day) Time: Session 1 - 1:00 pm Session 2 - 2:30 pm Maximum of 16 guests per session Tickets: $46+tax Enjoy a leisurely summer afternoon on the patio with a guided outdoor-style presentation of Japanese tea ceremony by SaBi Tea Arts and learn about the importance of colour, ingredients, and texture as they relate to seasonality in Japanese tea ceremony sweets.
Ticket price includes ceremonial matcha & three seasonal wagashi sweets. Choose one to have with your tea and take the others home with you. Space is limited, so please register early to ensure your spot. Featured Artist Profile: Saki Fukuda
 On Saturday, May 13, we had a lovely time sharing tea at two sold-out sessions of visitors at Roedde House Museum, serving tea table-style and stepping back in time to the vibrant period of cultural awakening between East and West around the turn of the 20th century.
Roedde House was built in 1893, at the same time that Ernest Fenollosa and later Okakura Kakuzo were introducing Japanese arts and philosophy to the West. Okakura's seminal Book of Tea (pub. 1906) and its reception attest to the deep interest in Japan and Japanese culture in the West at this interesting historical moment. Thanks to Roedde House for the opportunity to share tea in this historic space! SaBi Tea Arts presents two days of public Kōdō (Japanese incense ceremony) gatherings to celebrate spring and Asian Heritage Month. Guests will sample several kinds of aromatic woods then try to distinguish among them in a traditional Kumikō exercise. Sessions are hosted by a certified instructor of the Senzan Goryū School of Kōdō (Kyoto) and are limited to 8 participants per session. 
We are pleased to be presenting the Spring 2022 virtual lecture series Arts of the Tokonoma in conjunction with the Canadian Society for Asian Arts over three sessions in March, April, and May. Please visit the Current Programs page or click on the image below for more details.  The Ocha Zanmai series continues this Friday, with additional lectures each week through the end of June. The next four lectures will be in Japanese with optional English interpretation. 7th OCHA ZANMAI San Francisco International Conference on Chanoyu and Tea Culture -- Tea in the Edo Period (1603-1867) -- Lecture #2 Friday, June 11, 6:30 pm PDT Register at: https://sfsu.simpletix.com/e/70203  MIYATAKE Yoshiyuki is author of numerous articles with special focus on tea utensil collections and the movement of tea objects during the Edo period, including a serialized column on tea utensils of the Mizoguchi collection (50-part series) in Sadō zasshi (2016-2020), a series on Yoshimura Kan'a in Enshū (7-part series) in 2018, and a column on Matsudaira Fumai (12-part series) in 2018.
Our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Patricia Graham for an in-depth examination of Japanese sencha culture during the Edo period for the first lecture of the 7th Ocha Zanmai series on Friday evening. If you missed the lecture, be sure to check out her book "Tea of the Sages: The Art of Sencha" at your local university library. Her latest book "Japanese Design: An Illustrated Guide to Art, Architecture and Aesthetics in Japan" is being released in a new revised edition this summer.  |
AboutSaBi Tea Arts is managed by Maiko Behr, a translator specializing in Japanese arts and certified instructor of Chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) in the Omotesenke tradition and Kōdō (Japanese incense ceremony) in the Senzan Goryū tradition. Archives
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