🌱 Sorate Storytelling Series Vol.3

Stories that Connect Tea and People — Sorate Storytelling Series
Narration: Keiko Kitazawa (Sorate Advisor / Omotesenke Style Professor)

About Keiko Kitazawa:

She has over 25 years of experience in Chanoyu and has been teaching as a certified Omotesenke-style tea ceremony instructor in New York and New Jersey for more than 15 years, guiding over 100 students, including school programs. She conducts weekly lessons at the private salon, 229 East 49^th Street in NYC and at her private tea room in Closter, NJ, and regularly hosts tea gatherings both in the U.S. and Japan. A founding member of the Omotesenke Domonkai Eastern Region (2008) and its Secretary General since 2019, she graduated from Osaka University of Arts (Design) and the Fashion Institute of Technology (Fine Arts). Keiko views Chanoyu not only as a practice of procedures and customs but as a way of living an aesthetically and spiritually rich life. 

Wa-Kei-Sei-Jaku — Living Each Day with Matcha

Matcha is not only for special ceremonies.
The moment you prepare a bowl is a moment to center yourself—bringing beauty, clarity, and health into daily life.

At the heart of the Way of Tea lies the spirit of Wa-Kei-Sei-Jaku (Harmony, Respect, Purity, Tranquility):

• Wa (Harmony) — living in balance with nature and with others.

• Kei (Respect) — treating others with care; when you respect others, respect naturally returns to you.

• Sei (Purity) — a pure and honest heart arises from a space that has been carefully cleansed and prepared.

• Jaku (Tranquility) — when harmony, respect, and purity are present, tranquility naturally follows.

These principles are not limited to the tearoom; they can be lived and practiced in everyday life.

Sorate’s matcha is true matcha, nurtured with care in a small tea garden in Uji, Kyoto.
A morning bowl sharpens focus, an afternoon bowl calms the mind,
and an evening bowl restores a sense of quiet at the close of the day.

Even in the middle of a bustling metropolis like New York,
a single bowl of matcha can feel like the cool shade of a garden,
casting a moment of stillness over the heart.

To bring matcha into daily life is to embrace more than a drink.
It is to embrace the beauty of living—a way to make each day richer, healthier, and more mindful.

Begin your morning by cleansing and arranging your surroundings,
and with your first bowl of matcha, let your heart find peace as you step into the new day.

(For “What is authentic matcha?” please see Sorate web page “The Plant”.)