Ikebana International Exhibition and Tea Gathering at Tokyo Tower

Among the distinguished guests were Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi and Mrs. Hayashi, who have been of great support throughout my journey in the history of tea, and Mrs. Yuko Kishida, wife of the Prime Minister. Together with the wives of ambassadors stationed in Tokyo and the President of our company, they took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Over the course of the two-day weekend, the exhibition welcomed more than 15,000 visitors.

On the second day, we were given the opportunity to establish a tea gathering hosted by the Tokyo Tower Tea Ceremony Club, with myself serving as seki-shu, the host.

It was the first time we had attempted to hold a tea gathering within our company independently of the event organizers. Preparing the arrangement of utensils felt rather like preparing for an examination in which the theme would only be announced on the day itself.

The theme I chose was support for the Noto Peninsula earthquake recovery.

And, above all, the magnificent ikebana works created by all the participating artists became an essential part of the atmosphere.

With so many people involved—the patron, planners, protocol team, security personnel, and our own Tokyo Tower staff—it took considerable time to finalize even the sweets. We ended up placing the order at the terrifyingly late stage of just five days before the event.

The selection and arrangement of the tea utensils continued until two days before the opening, while the reprinted kaiki—the record of the utensils and the tea gathering—was not delivered until, incredibly, the evening of the first day of the exhibition.

As I considered what I might be able to do with the utensils from my own collection, I settled on a Wajima lacquer hand-bucket, Kutani-yaki individual plates, an Ōhi-yaki tea bowl, and a Yamanaka lacquer natsume.

Inspired by the ikebana works displayed beside the tea gathering by Mrs. Kishida and Mrs. Hayashi, I also brought out tea bowls for the second and third guests: Miyajima Gosuna-yaki from Hiroshima and Hagi ware.

Miyajima-yaki, associated with Itsukushima Shrine, naturally led to conversations about the Hiroshima Summit held the previous year and became one of the highlights of the tea gathering.

We also displayed a collaborative work created by eight Hagi ware artists, which had been presented as a commemorative gift at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Karuizawa.

And then, something that could only have come from my own family.

I displayed a letter from Maeda Tsunatoshi, addressed to Mori Seidayū, Edo chief retainer of the Kururi Domain, and used it as a tokonoma display.

The letter had originally accompanied the wedding trousseau of Princess Kikkaku, daughter of Maeda Toshitsune of the Kaga Maeda family, who married into the Mori family of Tsuyama in Kan’ei 5 (1628) and was adopted by Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.

For the tea scoop, I brought out a work by Maeda Toshiharu, the first lord of the Daishōji Domain—Princess Kikkaku’s younger brother.

Most significantly, this was the first time in approximately 400 years that the document box had been publicly shown to a general audience.

The box itself takes the form of an ohitsu, a vessel that has been passed down through successive heads of the Mori family of Kururi and has served as part of the family’s regalia. This was the first time it had been shown to anyone outside the family.

At the final gathering, our guests included Mrs. Yuko Kishida, wife of the Prime Minister, seated beside Mrs. Jeanne-Marie, wife of the French Ambassador, whom I have come to know well, as well as the wife of the U.S. Ambassador and the Ambassador and Mrs. Micronesia, with whom I had the pleasure of speaking at length.

We were also honored by the presence of Mrs. Yuko Hayashi, wife of the Chief Cabinet Secretary, the wives of the Vietnamese and Cameroonian Ambassadors, the Croatian Ambassador and his wife, and the wife of the former Ambassador of Afghanistan, among many other distinguished guests.

Many people who had seen the announcement on my Instagram also came rushing to the event. Their presence and encouragement meant a great deal to me.

We were also deeply honored by the visit of teachers from Urasenke International, who lent their presence and support to what was, in all honesty, a rather modest and almost mamagoto-like tea gathering, helping us create a proper tea atmosphere.

From the Franco-Japanese Association for the Way of Tea, our Vice-President Momoyama Kimura (@hidewasabi) also came rushing to support us.

Kimura-san, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Finally, although I will refrain from mentioning the person’s name, there was someone who, last summer, suggested that Tokyo Tower might be an ideal venue for this project and strongly recommended the idea.

It is thanks to that suggestion and recommendation that I was given the honor of creating this tea gathering.

I am deeply grateful for that kindness and for the continued thoughtfulness with which this person has, from time to time, taken an interest in my activities and given me their support.

My heartfelt thanks.