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I have been participating in a book club in the suburb of San Francisco since 2004. At a monthly meeting of 6 or 7 Japanese we share our thoughts on an assigned book for that month. During the past 17 years with the book club, I have read about 150 books. Even I, who have rather poor memory, remember all these books because we tirelessly discussed about the subjects.
While traveling or in daily life, the feelings of the hero or heroine create a flashback, making me feel as if it were happening in my real life. I sometimes also get excited with joys when I realize I am right here at the location where the story took place. If I select books myself, the genre tends to be biased, but the books recommended by the other members may be by authors I will never pick, thus broadening my horizons.
As I added experience and knowledge from living abroad, that also increased joy of reading books as I interpret the authors’ intentions through a different set of eyes. It was about 7 to 8 years after I joined the book club, while I felt I was always chased by my daily life and felt as if I stopped contemplating any subjects, I finally realized that discussions at the book club in fact have enriched my soul.
Today I would like to discuss "Every day is a good day「日日是好日」(Nichinich Kore Kojitsu)" authored by Noriko Morishita, which I read in 2018.
<Story> The main character, who became a college student, dreamed of getting a job as an editor after the graduation. At that time, her mother suggested that "people who practice tea ceremony behave beautifully, so why not try learning?" So, she decided to go with her cousin to her neighbor's tea ceremony teacher's house for lessons.
After the graduation, she worked for a publishing company as she desired, got engaged, was dumped by her fiancé, and her father, who warmly watched over her, died. During these years, however, she continued to go to tea ceremony lessons. When she became a mid-ranked among her disciples under her tea ceremony teacher, she realizes that she is learning about life and nature through the tea ceremony.
< Discussions> I do not know why I like this book so much, but perhaps because there are thoughts that I can sympathize with in each chapter, and because the sentences are short and simple, they come straight into my heart. "Every day is a good day" sounds so simple, but it is not easy to live that way every day. Also, in February, the hanging scroll says「不苦者有知」"fukuwauchi", and it means "No matter what the adversity, if you have the wisdom, you can survive it. That is why it is important to hone your wisdom even in good conditions." I totally agree.
In the book-club discussion, there was a question, "Tea ceremony is a hospitality. Should we be trained for it?" At my high school, there was a tea ceremony class, and I continued the lessons for about 8 years with my mother's recommendation. I never thought that tea ceremony was a practice of hospitality. It was a place to learn the aesthetics of traditional Japanese life (simple and clean), and the beauty and expression of movement of hands. The book reminded me of my student time in a tearoom when I enjoyed listening to the comfort of the sound of pouring hot water from a bamboo dipper into a tea bowl, and the sound which is slightly different in winter and summer. Often, it is important to just focus on what is in front of you, even in situations where your mind is wondering elsewhere.
That said, ikebana (flower arrangement) and cooking classes are more practical than the tea ceremony, which takes nearly 30 minutes to brew a cup of tea. The book also said, "the older lady-students took unusually long time to admire “tea utensils” (chadōgu 茶道具), including tea bowls, a tea scoop, a tea container and so forth. Take a tea bowl for example, the difference can be seen in their patterns and textures. I even now wonder, "what is the difference between my 2000-yen chashaku (tea scoop) and the highly-admired priceless chashaku teacher owns? " It is still an eccentric world of "tea ceremony".
I had never thought about other question raised by a member, that is "why did the tea ceremony become mainstream for women?" The tea ceremony, once popular in the samurai society, became popular among women from the Meiji era. The samurai disappeared when the political system in Japan changed from feudalism to democracy in Meiji, and women’s education became widespread. I believe it is a good thing to experience traditional Japanese culture like tea ceremony in our daily life. I understand that men are also participating on weekend tea-ceremony classes in Japan these days.
Regarding one of the chapters in the book, "waiting to grow up", the heroin says, “it takes time to understand the reality, and the moment when I realize 'that is the reality', it becomes my own blood and flesh." The tea ceremony to the heroin in the book may be my "book club" to me. I often realize later in some situations that "Ah ha! This is what we talked about at the book club!" The discussion at the book club became a reality thus it becomes my own blood and flesh in my brain and soul. Thanks to the book club and its members.
What I most sympathized with in this book was in the phrase, "listening to the sound of rain on a rainy day." After moving to California, reading a book while listening to the sound of rain has become a luxury. I interpret this phrase as "to accept and thoroughly enjoy the situation given at that moment." This is what I have been telling myself in my life in the United States over the last 20 years and is well summarized in this simple phrase. On a rainy day, I listen to the rain with my whole body.
After reading this book, it was made into a movie starring two leading actresses; Kirin Kiki who is my favorite actress, the tea ceremony teacher; and Haru Kuroki, the young student. When I returned to Japan, I was happy to go to the cinema with my mother. Unlike the original book, the movie was set during the bubble era in Japan when I was also a student. The setting and personalities of the main characters are like the original book.
I felt nostalgic about my youth while watching the movie. As the young heroin was thinking about studying abroad, I was also vaguely thinking about studying abroad. I was a bit confused but a happy student. I was grateful to my parents that they chose the school for me that all students were unique and independent, yet they had gentle heart. The movie reminded me of the feeling of gratitude toward my parents that I have forgotten for a long time, and suddenly, tears came out. In the middle of the movie, just when the music plays, I got teary again. I wondered why because this is not a kind of movie which makes you cry. I wondered if this appealed to my heart or maybe to my DNA.
My mother, who still continues her tea ceremony lesson, woke up at 5 a.m. that morning, so she fell asleep in the first 15 minutes after the movie started. In the middle of the movie, she woke up and said, "Yuki-chan, this is Omotesenke. I'm Urasenke," and she was back to dowsing again. It is okay as it is, changes sometimes bring you a feeling of sadness. I saw my mother's sleeping face in the dark.
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