Although May marks the beginning of the furo (portable brazier) season, due to my extended stay in Japan during the ro (sunken hearth) season, we were not able to practice the ro temae (procedures for the sunken hearth) as thoroughly as usual.
Therefore, following on from April, we extended the ro temae practice into May by one month. During this time, we mainly focused on the Shikaden (karamono, daitenmoku,bondate, wakindate), changing them weekly.
After learning the basic procedures through konarai (elementary practice), we studied how the handling of the fukusa (silk cloth), purification methods, and chasen toshi (tea whisk handling) vary depending on the utensils used in the shikaden. Through this, both I and the students came to deeply appreciate how important consistent practice is.
