Visiting Singapore[Oct 2013]

KOBORI Sojitsu (the 13th Grand Master of the Enshu Sado School )

Half the days of the week now feel like Autumn has arrived. The summer this year was very hot and has not come to an end as of the time of writing this! It wouldn't surprise me if the number of heat strokes had reached a record high this year. This heat has also had a significant impact on the natural world which in turn impacts our own daily lives.

What concerned me the most was the rise in temperature of rivers and waterways. Marine biology can change and even be damaged depending on the temperature of the water. The current state of fish, egg production, waterweed and coral was frequently reported on in the media. It is worrisome to think that this rise in temperature could continue.

Animals and plants which originate in Japan are often weaker than those found overseas. A comparison can be made to Japan and its vulnerability to foreign pressure.

At the end of August I conducted a tea ceremony at the National University of Singapore. While it is a regular annual event, there were many attendees and it was very busy. We used a wide variety of tea ceremony items, ranging from tea bowl stands to portable tansu.

This year I was asked to conduct a tea ceremony to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the beginning of relations between Japan and Southeast Asian nations, which was attended by Sojo Miura and others from Japan, six NUS students and each nation's Ambassadors. It was a great pleasure to have received words of praise for the beauty and variety of the Enshuryu method.

I am very grateful to Yoichi Suzuki, Japan's Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Singapore, for kindly allowing us to host the tea ceremony in the Ambassador's official residence.

Conducting a tea ceremony with a Japanese embassy and visiting Hungary and Poland in April has madethis year a very memorable one for me.