ABOUT ME & US

I am your host Masumi Kirihata and I was born and bred in the Kyoto area. I graduated from Kyoto University of Foreign Studies in Kyoto city and majored in English.  I am also a certified English Tourist Guide, and a senior Western Calligrapher.

One of my specialities is the fusion of Western Calligraphy with the Japanese Maki-e Art, that important and tangible cultural property of Japan. I have a few pieces on display on this website.

The motto of my alma mater  is the Latin saying ‘Pax Mundi per Linguas” which translates as “peace across the World through languages.” It is in this spirit that I run the Tea Ceremony Ju-An, Kyoto.

In my own little way I wish to contribute to spreading peace across the world by introducing the very Japanese ritual of making and drinking a bowl of powered green tea, matcha, stirred with a whisk that, to foreign eyes, may first appear as a man’s shaving brush!

In the language of the great Masters: Pax mundi per Tisana Iaponica! (Peace to the World through The Japanese Tea Ceremony). This is my own mission.

I have a great passion for the Japanese Tea Ceremony and I am a practitioner of Chado, "the Way of Tea." I try to put into daily practice the teachings of Chado by delivering a genuine Japanese Tea Ceremony in Kyoto in its natural "Temple". I am a certified Omotesenke Koshi with the name of Soushin (表千家講師 宗真) which in English means that I am a licensed Tea Master from the Omotesenke family tradition and known by the name of Koshi Soushin.

Some say it is the premier Japanese Tea Ceremony in Kyoto and Japan. Such accolades make me blush but also comfort me as I strive to deliver a truly great insight into this aspect of Japanese culture and way of life.

In this endeavour I am helped by Imura-san, also known in our Omotesenke Chado tradition as Koshi Souki (表千家講師 宗希) and also Kawashima-san, Hiraoka-san on their way to becoming Tea Masters.