毎年9月のレーバーデーホリデイ期間中に植物園で開催されてる日本祭。昨年はコロナのパンデミックの為、中止になりましたが、ワクチン接種が進んだ今年、2021年は無事開催されました。植物園の屋内ステージのあったメインビルディングが建替中の為、今年は屋外ステージでテーブルと椅子のお点前、立礼式（りゅうれいしき）のデモンストレーションを行いました。
Missouri Botanical Garden has been hosting the Japanese Festival every Labor Day weekend except last year due to the pandemic. Because the COVID vaccination rate has increased, the festival was back this year, and we participated as the St.Louis Chado Society. Since the buildings in the garden are currently under construction for renovation, we had our tea ceremony demonstration on the outdoor stage for the first time and performed in Ryurei style, the procedure using table and chairs instead of sitting down on the floor.
当初は土曜日と日曜日に2回行う予定にしていましたが、土曜日は終日雨模様でしたので、残念ながらキャンセルとなりました。5日の日曜日は快晴。湿気もなく秋日和の下、爽やかな風の抜けるステージで御薗棚のお点前を披露しました。生徒さん15人が夏の着物や浴衣を身に着け、それぞれの役割を担って、日頃のお稽古の成果を発揮し、無事成功裏に終えることができました
Originally, we were scheduled to perform on Saturday and Sunday, but unfortunately, the Saturday performance was canceled because of the rainy weather. The next day, the fifth of September, turned out to be a beautiful Indian summer day, and we did a tea ceremony with a fresh fall breeze under the green trees. Each of our fifteen tea students, donned in summer kimono and yukata, helped one another both onstage and off, and we successfully completed the tea ceremony demonstration. I’m proud of all of the students showing the skills they learned and practiced throughout the year.
今年は沢山の聴衆の中から、5人の方をくじで選び、お点前の中で出されるお菓子とお茶を体験していただきました。皆さん、興味深く見てくださり、デモンストレーション終了後にはいつものようにたくさんの質問も出て、茶道に対する関心の深さを改めて感じることが出来ました。
Another new thing we added this year was to pick five people from the audience by lottery and serve them tea and Japanese sweets in the front row, which we had reserved for the winners. After the demonstration, we answered a lot of questions from the audience and felt a genuine interest in Japanese culture and our tea ceremony. I would like to thank everybody who helped and worked hard to make this demonstration a big success.
