Cult of Quality

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Japan

A collection of 16 issues

2017 Summer in Japan and Korea: Maeda Shodo, abbot of Zuihoin, Daitokuji Temple

I love meeting with monks; Some are kind, some are indifferent, some are focused on other things, and some are focused on you. Years of meditation and practiced insight given certain monks the ability to read people. It is disconcerting to be read so easily by anyone, least a monk

2017 Summer in Japan and Korea: Meeting with Mr Kanbayashi, the CEO of Kanbayashi-en Matcha Company

My work with Analytical Flavor Systems has created some amazing opportunities that I would never have expected to be part of – like meeting Mr Kanbayashi, the CEO of the 450 year old Kanbayashi-en Matcha Company. Introduced by the venerable Koike-sensei, we discussed collaborations and ways to bring matcha for a

2017 Summer in Japan and Korea: Extreme ChaXi on Fushimi Inari-taisha

Hiking 233 meters over 4 hours in 90 degree and 90% humidity to brew tea on the top of an ancient Shinto shrine? This is extreme ChaXi. The Fushimi shrine is made up of more than 30,000 tori gates, and the path up the mountain winds its way past

2017 Summer in Japan and Korea: The best thing I ate

It may just have been this crab-back. The meat had been pulled from the rest of the crab, coated in miso-butter, and we cooked it until brown and caramelized on a small grill.

2017 Summer in Japan and Korea: Tea with a friend

I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have great friends around the world. There are few greater joys than to see old friends in the excitement of travel. The joy is magnified when the friend is a fellow 茶人. This was just my experience visiting Tokyo and Emily Huang. Emily – this

Shinto ChaXi

We hiked up behind one of the largest Shinto complexes in Southern Kyoto, walking along a stream, and stroling just fast enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay. We came to a beautiful spot on one of the many branching trails, Shinto shrines in every direction, and made chaxi by

Matcha Production at the ShunSho Factory

I was quite right to conjecture that matcha, even at its (available) best, is subject to very mechanized production. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; tea drinkers demand matcha of a certain quality, and companies rise and find methods to meet demand; much of the matcha is very good.

Omotesenke – Success!

And you thought I was done after these 2 punches? My meeting with the Secretary General of Omotosenke, Mr. Uzuoka, was an honor, went indubitably well, and extended far beyond me dwelling on their architecture. I am overjoyed to announce that the Omotesenke Chanoyu School, the oldest school in the

Japanese Architecture

Let me be upfront. Until this experience, I never understood Japanese Architecture. It didn’t click. I liked the gardens (who doesn’t like the gardens?), but their drab stucco-esq mud brown colors of walls, and their sizing never made me feel at “home” (though I did like the proportions)

Cormorant Fishing on the GiFu River

For the last 1,300 years (since the end of the Tang Dynasty), river runners have been fishing for sweetfish (ayu) on the Gifu river. Using Cormorants. The birds are tied to a rope and controlled off the bow of the boat by a Fishing Master. This is a serious