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	Reception at the hotel Jalta

Ceremonial inauguration of Urasenke Czech branch Reception at the hotel Jalta, 30 March, 2000. The Festivals of Tea begin, Czech-Japanese inspiration 2000. Yes, the festival days have begun. Prague branch of the Japanese Urasenke tea ceremony has its authentic background at last. It had taken a relatively long time before a place for tea ceremony was built in the rooms of the Czech-Japanese association in Prague, Na Mustku. However, the lectures, or better to say, the practice of the Way of Tea had begun there much earlier, of course. Every Thursday the small building site was turned into a tea room. The drill was replaced by light fluttering of chasen - a small bamboo birch, the place full of sawdust after having been swept was taken by mats. This situation was explained by prof. Nishikawa Sotoku in his speech at the ceremonial inauguration. When European Urasenke branches wanted to build a tea room, it was built by Japanese craftsmen in Japan. Then it was disassembled, the parts were transported to Europe where they were put together again to serve their purpose. With Prague it was different. The process of building took place in CR, most material came from CR and the work itself was done in cooperation with Czech joiners. Japanese Masters helped only with the expert part of the work and so newly built tea room in Prague is also the result of Czech-Japanese inspiration. The reception at the hotel Jalta started the official activity of Urasenke Prague branch confirmed also by official decrets, under the auspices of Mrs. Dagmar Havlova, the wife of the president of CR. Apart from prof. Nishikawa another speech was delivered by the Japanese ambassador Mr. Hiroto Ishida, who on this special occasion served delicious sake. A short address was given also by Julie Honysova, the new executive chair of the Czech branch.
Urasenke study group	The official decrets
From the left: sister-in-love of the Czech president D.Havlova, doc. V.Hrdlickova, the Japanese ambassador Mr. Hiroto Ishida with his wife Previous - Events - Next