The tea arrives in a small pot
on a lacquer tray, with five tiny teacups without handles round the pot.
There is no milk or sugar, and the tea is usually a straw-coloured, bitter
liquid, very unpleasant to a European taste. But if a cup be raised to the
lips and set down, and three sen--a sen is about a halfpenny--laid on the
tray, all goes well, and every one is satisfied.
This bringing of tea to a visitor is universal in Japan. It is not only
done in a tea-house, where one would expect it, but on every occasion. A
friendly call at a private house produces the teacups like magic, and when
a customer enters a good shop, business matters are undreamed of until many
little cups of tea have been produced; and if the customer has many things
to buy and stays a long time, tea is steadily brought forward in relays.
If you don't care for your tea plain, you may have it flavoured with
salted cherry blossoms, but that is not considered an improvement by the
Westerner, who longs for sugar and milk. If you wish to stay for the night
at a tea-house, a room is made for you by sliding some paper screens into
the wall and ceiling grooves, and a couple of quilts are laid on the floor
to form a bed. That is the whole provision made in the way of furniture if
you are off the beaten track of tourists: the rest you must provide for
yourself.
In the cities the tea-houses of the grander sort are the scenes of splendid
entertainments. When a Japanese wishes to give a dinner to his friends
he does not ask them to his house; he invites them to a banquet at some
famous tea-house.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67