The sense of moderation [July 2014]

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

Summer has finally arrived but how hot will it be this year. The weather forecast tell us that the El Nino phenomenon might affect the weather. I do not know what will happen but while we do not want it to be an extremely hot summer, a cold summer will ruin the harvest of crops. So a moderately hot summer is desirable.

Speaking of moderation, I felt the weather was moderate when I gave a lesson in the middle of May. Nowadays, perhaps due to global warming, there is an air-conditioner in almost every room. As a result, we do not hesitate to turn it on every time we feel a little hot.

Personally, I have never liked air conditioners and prefer to open the window and enjoy the wind but this is not the case for everyone. It is better to close the window during the allergy seasons but I think we should let the wind in the house during the comfortable seasons to soak in the smell and life force of the fresh greenery.

Even if you feel it is a little hot, a slight breeze from out of nowhere is enough to make you feel comfortable. In other words, when you feel a little hot your neck and back are sensitive to even the smallest of breezes. If you turn on the air conditioning and close all the windows, the air does not flow and, as a result, our senses become numb.

As such, I hope that you all fully enjoy the vitality of nature, at least until the peak of the summer. A sense of moderation comes from this and I believe that the Japanese people who have lived in a rich natural environment with four seasons should have this sense in their minds and bodies.

Now then, the documentary movie "My father is a grand tea maser” is still popular and continues to show in different areas and I am very happy about this. In the past I have written about my relationship with films and I would like to do so again this month.

I have already mentioned that I always went to the cinema with my father. I talked about why and my thoughts about it. The first movie I watched without my father was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service” the sixth in the series of famous spy movies starring James Bond. It was made in 1967 when I was in junior high school.

In fact, I watched the fourth movie “Thunderball” with my father and I was passionate about the secret weapons used in the movie. But my father did not take me to the next one for some reason. I think that was because of the scene between the Bond girl and Bond which was judged too racy for a child. I suspect it was more my mother than my father who did not want me to watch it.

I was sad that I was not able to go to see the James Bond movies for a while. I regret not watching the fifth movie which was set in Japan. When I became a junior high school student, I made a new friend who was a movie fanatic and he would always go to the movies with his fiends but not his parents.

So I went to the cinema to watch "On Her Majesty's Secret Service” with this friend while feeling guilty and anxious that my father would get angry. When I got home and my father asked where I had been that day, I replied, without looking up, “Just to the cinema” in a sheepish voice. This is a nostalgic memory that I remember.