Year of the Horse – Chanoyu Decoded

Horse, Grasses, and Chanoyu

Ha-ssaku no Uma, 八朔の馬, eight-first day-of-horse, is a decorative straw horse given as good luck charms, especially to young boys on Hassaku (the first day of the eighth lunar month), which is some areas is considered to be a type of birthday celebration for boys. The Hassaku no Uma pictured above is from Ashi-ya, 芦屋, Reed-house, Kita-kyū-shū, 北九州, North-nine-states. The horse referred to as Hassaku no Uma is made of ‘white’ straw grass, or wood. One significant location that venerates the white horse is Kami-ga-mo Jin-ja,上賀茂上神社, Upper-joy-dense God-shrine. The shrine is more formally known as Ka-mo Wake-ika-zuchi Jin-ja, 賀茂別雷大神社, Joy-dense Divide-thunder Great-god Shrine, and is considered one of...

Horse Tale in Tea

Ga-ran-dō, 伽蘭洞, Help-orchid-cave, with utensils for the beginning of the Uma-doshi, 午年, Horse-year, 2026. January first, as it corresponds to the ‘old’ lunar calendar, is the 12th day of the 11th lunar month. The Gan-jitsu, 元日, Origin-day, of lunar New Year is February 17th. After Bodhidharma’s death, his body was embalmed and placed in a coffin according to Buddhist rituals. In the 12th month of the lunar calendar, he was solemnly reburied on Mount Xiong’er, and a stupa was built in his memory at Dinglin Temple in Shanxian County, Henan Province. This is one of the reasons why the hanging scroll with its image of Daruma tokonoma,...