Honoring the `way of tea'

To some, the art of tea is nothing more than boiling water, making tea, and drinking it, but Aiko Somi Rodgers says the tea ceremony as long practiced by the Japanese builds inner strength.

``I love tea very much," Rodgers, who has been conducting public tea ceremonies at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury for 30 years, said recently. ``So much is discipline. It makes you strong inside."

Rodgers performed the first ceremony of the summer last Sunday. The museum will offer three other free tea ceremonies this season, on July 16, July 30, and Aug. 27.

The ceremonies are performed outdoors, weather permitting, in the museum's Wind-in-the-Pines tea house, designed and built in Japan for the Art Complex.

``The tea house is a covered structure with two sides open," said Mary Curran , the museum's assistant director. ``The audience sits outside under the tree and looks into the house."

If the weather is bad, the tea house is brought indoors into one of the galleries.

Though she was born in Tokyo, Rodgers, 81, devoted herself to the art of the tea ceremony only after her college-age son announced he had won a scholarship to study the tradition in Japan. Eventually, she went to Japan to study the art, too, and began teaching for the Boston branch of the Urasenke School of Tea .

Her earlier instruction in the Japanese arts was interrupted by World War II, a time when ``the planes came over every day," Rodgers recalled. When the war ended, she returned to her tea master's house to find it destroyed by the fires of war.

The grand master of the Urasenke School served tea to American officers during the occupation of Japan, Rodgers said. ``He said tea is for everyone," she said. ``His philosophy was `peacefulness from one bowl of tea.' "

Eventually the school, founded by Sen no Rikyu in the 16th century, established branches in other countries, and sent a teacher to Boston. Rikyu based the ceremony in the aesthetics of wabi, which means ``simple elegance." Its adherents say wabi teaches discipline and respect. The four principles of wabi are peace, respect, purity, and harmony -- ``harmony between the host and the guests," Rodgers said, ``and harmony with nature."

The tea used in chanoyu -- the Japanese word literally means ``hot water for tea," though it is generally translated as ``tea ceremony" -- consists of powdered leaves, chosen from the top of prime, eight-year-old plants. The host and the guests kneel on tatami mats in the tea hut. The host places the powdered tea into a bowl and pours hot water on it. He then whips the tea with a bamboo whisk until it foams, and offers it to his guests.

Rodgers said that in her public tea ceremonies she explains the elements of the ceremony and the implements used and answers questions at the end.

The ``way of tea" is simplicity itself, but all the traditional arts -- ceramics, calligraphy, painting, flower arrangement, architecture -- contribute to the effect. Rikyu taught that each encounter in life is unique and that the host's preparations should convey the warmth of hospitality to the guest.

Tea bowls, implements, napkins, and ornaments are chosen with an eye to the theme of the occasion, Rodgers said. A painted screen and flower vase are placed in the tea house's alcove. Rodgers wears her summer kimono for the summer ceremonies and burns sandalwood incense. Napkins are different colors for men and women. Host and guests rinse their hands and mouths to purify them before tea.

Over the centuries, tea bowls, whisks, tea spoons for powder, containers, water receptacles, tea cakes, and containers for sweets were designed and crafted especially for use in the tea ceremony. The Art Complex Museum's founders, Carl and Edith Weyerhaeuser , were collecting tea bowls when they learned about the tea ceremony.

According to Alice Hyland , the museum's consulting curator, the Weyerhaeusers came to believe ``the tea ceremony was one of the best ways to understand Japanese culture."

Rodgers moved to Marblehead to be with her husband after the war. Stimulated by her son's interest, she traveled frequently to Kyoto , the home of Japanese traditional arts, to advance in the field, sometimes serving as a translator to English-speaking guests.

When members of English royalty once were guests at a tea ceremony in Kyoto, Rodgers related, culture shock briefly roiled the atmosphere of harmony. ``The queen made a face" after sipping her tea, Rodgers said, ``because she was expecting milk and sugar." At subsequent ceremonies, Rodgers warned English visitors that the Japanese don't use milk or sugar in their tea.

Tea master Glenn Sorei Pereira , who was one of Rodgers's students, will perform the July 16 family tea ceremony intended to teach children in grade 2 and above (as well as adults) about the cultural tradition.

Other events include origami and scroll making. A related exhibition, ``Shape of Tea ," features utensils from the museum's collection and by contemporary artists.

For more information, see the website at www. artcomplex.org .

Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox@gmail.com.