She studied more than 10 years in her native Japan before being licensed to conduct tea ceremonies. Tea ceremonies began around the eighth century for Japan's elite class, becoming more widespread after 1500 through tea master Sen Rikyu, who fashioned the ceremony still used today. Watanabe said the tea ceremony is designed to bring personal relations to their most basic form. Once inside everyone is equal, no matter what their social standing outside. The ceremony is most precise yet strives for simplicity, as tea master and guests focus their discussion only on the tea, utensils or decorations of the traditional tea room.
Every encounter is unique.
That thought permeates every tea activity. The demonstration involved only a portion of the traditional tea ceremony, which typically lasts four hours and includes a meal and a break between two tea drinking periods. Two of the guests, both trained in tea schools in Japan, enter the locally-built tea room on their knees through a small sliding door, emphasizing the humility that should accompany one into the room. They go to a tokonoma, a small part of the room set aside for flowers and a hanging scroll, where they pause briefly in respect. They also bow to the hostess, and respectfully observe the various tea utensils before taking their places.