V ponedeljek, 16. februarja 2026, smo v Slovenskem etnografskem muzeju odprli prvi dogodek v ciklu sezonskih čajnih srečanj, ki jih Društvo Chado Urasenke Tankokai Slovenija pripravlja ob svoji 10. obletnici delovanja. Povabili smo na srečanje z naslovom Sakai no chakai (čajno srečanje na pragu), v čas, ko zima še vztraja, pomlad pa že tiho napoveduje svoj prihod. Dogodek je bil umeščen v čas Pusta in v bližino japonskega sezonskega prehoda setsubun (prelom letnega časa, povezan z očiščenjem in odganjanjem nesreče).

Slovenski etnografski muzej je za takšno srečanje posebno pomenljiv prostor. V njem se predmeti, šege in obredi ne kažejo kot oddaljeni ostanki preteklosti, temveč kot žive sledi človeške potrebe, da razumemo čas, skupnost, strah, upanje in prenovo. Prav zato smo želeli, da prvo sezonsko čajno srečanje ne bi bilo le predstavitev japonske kulture, temveč občutljiv pogovor med dvema izročiloma: slovenskim pustnim svetom in japonsko potjo čaja.

Pust je čas maske, zvonca, gibanja in hrupa. Skupnost se še zadnjič zazre v zimo, jo poimenuje, pretrese in simbolno odslovi. Setsubun v japonski tradiciji prav tako govori o meji: o trenutku pred pomladjo, ko je treba odgnati tisto, kar bremeni hišo, telo in srce. V obeh izročilih prepoznamo isto človekovo gesto: pred novim začetkom je treba nekaj odložiti.

V čajnem prostoru se ta prehod zgodi tiho.

Naše izhodišče je bilo tudi notranje načelo dō-gaku-jitsu (pot, učenje in udejanjena praksa). V društvu se člani na rednih vajah, o-keiko (vaja poti čaja), učimo oblike, gibov, zaporedja, bontona in zbranosti. To sta pot in učenje. Toda pot čaja zares zaživi šele, ko naučeno postane gostoljubje: ko pripravimo prostor, sprejmemo gosta, postrežemo sladico in položimo skodelico čaja pred drugega človeka.

Takrat vaja postane življenje.

Zato je bil Sakai no chakai tudi naš prehod od študija k dejanju. Iz prostora učenja smo stopili v prostor srečanja. Iz notranje discipline v javno gostoljubje. Iz tihe priprave v skodelico, ki jo prejme gost.

V središču čajnega prostora je bila misel ichigo ichie (eno srečanje, ena priložnost). To ni le lep rek, temveč drža. Ta trenutek, ta zima, ta prostor, ti ljudje in ta skodelica se ne bodo nikoli več ponovili na enak način. Ko to zares začutimo, postane tudi najpreprostejše dejanje pomembno. Sedež, pogled, priklon, skodelica, tišina — vse postane del neponovljivega srečanja.

Sezonskost v poti čaja ni okras. Ni nekaj, kar bi dodali na koncu. Je tiha govorica srečanja. Izraža se v razpoloženju prostora, v cvetju, v izbranih oblikah, v sladici, v barvi svetlobe, v tem, kako gostitelj razume dan, v katerem sprejme gosta. Tokrat je ta dan stal na pragu: med starim in novim, med zimo in pomladjo, med slovenskim obrednim hrupom in japonsko zbranostjo.

Vabilo na srečanje je nosilo podobo mask — eno, ki prikliče slovenski pustni svet, in drugo, ki spomni na japonskega demona. Na prvi pogled sta obe glasni, skoraj igrivi. A pod njima je resnejše vprašanje: kaj moramo v sebi in med seboj prepoznati, da lahko stopimo naprej?

V čajnem srečanju maska ne kriči. Zvonec ne bobni. Ogenj ne preplavi prostora. Vse se umiri. Tisto, kar je zunaj izraženo s hrupom, se znotraj preoblikuje v pozornost. Tisto, kar skupnost odganja z obhodom, čajni prostor sprejme v red, obliko in tišino.

In nato pride skodelica.

Skodelica čaja je majhna. Toda v njej je lahko veliko: spoštovanje, potrpežljivost, zbranost, enakost in pripravljenost, da drugega človeka sprejmemo brez naglice. V tem se srečanje navezuje na misel ichi wan kara heiwa o (mir iz ene skodelice čaja), ki nas opominja, da se mir ne začne vedno z velikimi besedami. Včasih se začne z dejanjem, ki je tako preprosto, da ga skoraj spregledamo: pripraviti čaj za nekoga drugega.

Prvo sezonsko srečanje ob 10. obletnici društva je bilo zato več kot dogodek. Bilo je povabilo. Povabilo, da se približamo poti čaja ne kot oddaljeni umetnosti, temveč kot praksi, ki jo je mogoče živeti tudi tukaj, v slovenskem prostoru, ob naših letnih časih, naših muzejih, naših zgodbah in naših srečanjih.

Kdor pride na čajno srečanje, ne pride le gledat. Pride v trenutek. Pride v prostor, kjer se čas upočasni. Kjer se učenje spremeni v gostoljubje. Kjer se kultura ne razlaga samo z besedami, temveč se ponudi v skodelici.

Vabimo vas, da se nam pridružite tudi pri prihodnjih sezonskih čajnih srečanjih. In če vas pot čaja nagovori globlje, vas vabimo, da se nam približate tudi kot članice in člani društva — da skupaj vstopimo v potrpežljivo učenje, v tiho prakso in v lepoto srečanja, ki se zgodi le enkrat.

A Tea Gathering on the Threshold:
Winter, Carnival, and the First Bowl of a Seasonal Cycle

On Monday, 16 February 2026, at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Chadō Urasenke Tankokai Slovenia opened the first event in a cycle of seasonal tea gatherings prepared for the association’s 10th anniversary. The gathering was entitled Sakai no chakai (a tea gathering on the threshold), and it took place at a moment when winter still remained, while spring was already quietly approaching. The theme was set between Slovenian Carnival and the Japanese seasonal turning point known as setsubun (the division of the seasons, traditionally associated with purification and driving away misfortune).

The Slovene Ethnographic Museum was a deeply fitting place for such an encounter. Within its walls, customs, rituals, and objects are not only memories of the past; they are living traces of how people understand time, community, fear, hope, and renewal. For this reason, we wished the first seasonal tea gathering to be more than a presentation of Japanese culture. We wanted it to become a quiet conversation between two traditions: the Slovenian world of Carnival and the Japanese Way of Tea.

Carnival is a time of masks, bells, movement, and sound. A community turns once more toward winter, names it, shakes it, and symbolically sends it away. Setsubun carries a similar meaning in Japanese tradition: it marks a threshold before spring, a moment when misfortune is driven out and space is opened for renewal. In both traditions, we recognize the same human gesture: before a new beginning, something must be released.

In the tea space, this transition happens quietly.

The gathering also grew from the idea of dō-gaku-jitsu (the way, study, and lived realization). In our regular o-keiko (tea practice), members learn forms, movements, sequences, etiquette, and attentiveness. This is the way and the study. Yet the Way of Tea truly comes alive only when what has been learned becomes hospitality: when the space is prepared, the guest is received, sweets are served, and a bowl of tea is placed before another person.

At that moment, practice becomes life.

In this sense, Sakai no chakai was also our own threshold: a movement from study to action, from internal discipline to public hospitality, from quiet preparation to a bowl received by a guest.

At the heart of the gathering was the phrase ichigo ichie (one time, one meeting). It is not merely a beautiful saying, but an entire way of being. This moment, this winter, this room, these people, and this bowl of tea will never occur again in exactly the same way. When we truly feel this, even the simplest gesture becomes meaningful. A seat, a glance, a bow, a bowl, a silence — all become part of an unrepeatable encounter.

Seasonality in the Way of Tea is not decoration. It is not something added at the end. It is the silent language of the gathering. It appears in the atmosphere of the room, in the flowers, in the chosen forms, in the sweet, in the quality of the light, and in the host’s understanding of the day on which the guests are received. On this occasion, the day stood on a threshold: between old and new, winter and spring, Slovenian ritual sound and Japanese stillness.

The invitation image brought together masks — one evoking the Slovenian Carnival world, the other recalling the Japanese demon. At first glance, they seem loud, colourful, almost playful. Yet beneath them lies a more serious question: what must we recognize, within ourselves and among one another, before we can step forward?

In the tea gathering, the mask does not shout. The bell does not thunder. The fire does not overwhelm the room. Everything settles. What is expressed outside through noise is transformed inside into attention. What the community drives away through procession is received in the tea space through order, form, and silence.

And then comes the bowl.

A bowl of tea is small. Yet it can hold much: respect, patience, attentiveness, equality, and the willingness to receive another person without haste. In this, the gathering also recalls the phrase ichi wan kara heiwa o (peace from one bowl of tea), which reminds us that peace does not always begin with grand declarations. Sometimes it begins with an act so simple that we almost overlook it: preparing tea for someone else.

The first seasonal gathering of our 10th anniversary year was therefore more than an event. It was an invitation. An invitation to approach the Way of Tea not as a distant art, but as a living practice that can take root here, in Slovenia — within our seasons, our museums, our stories, and our encounters.

Those who attend a tea gathering do not merely come to watch. They enter a moment. They enter a space where time slows down; where study becomes hospitality; where culture is not only explained in words, but offered in a bowl.

We warmly invite you to join us at our upcoming seasonal tea gatherings. And if the Way of Tea speaks to you more deeply, we invite you to come closer as a member of our association — to learn with us, to practise with patience, and to discover the quiet beauty of an encounter that happens only once.

境の茶会
冬、プスト、そして季節の第一碗

2026年2月16日、Chadō Urasenke Tankokai Slovenia は、設立10周年を記念する季節の茶会の第一回として、スロベニア民族博物館で「境の茶会」を開きました。冬がまだ去らず、しかし春の気配が静かに近づいてくる時期でした。この会は、スロベニアのプストと日本の節分という、二つの季節の境目に心を向けるものでした。

スロベニア民族博物館は、このような出会いにふさわしい場所です。そこでは、道具や習慣や儀礼が、過去の記憶としてではなく、人々が時間、共同体、恐れ、希望、そして再生をどのように受け止めてきたかを語っています。私たちは、この茶会を単なる日本文化の紹介にしたいとは思いませんでした。スロベニアの民俗的な季節感と、日本の茶の湯が、静かに向かい合う場にしたかったのです。

プストは、面と鈴と動きと音の季節です。人々は冬に向き合い、古いものを送り出し、新しい時を迎える準備をします。節分もまた、春の前に立つ境目です。災いを払い、家と心に新しい風を入れる時です。

どちらの伝統にも、同じ人間の願いがあります。新しく始めるために、まず手放すこと。

茶の空間では、この移り変わりは静かに起こります。

この会の根底には、道・学・実という考えもありました。日々の稽古では、所作、礼法、順序、道具への理解、そして心のあり方を学びます。それは道であり、学びです。しかし茶の湯は、学んだことが客へのもてなしとなった時、初めて実となります。空間を整え、客を迎え、菓子を差し上げ、一碗の茶を差し出す。その時、稽古は生きた実践になります。

「境の茶会」は、私たち自身にとっても一つの境でした。学びから実践へ。内なる稽古から、客を迎える場へ。静かな準備から、誰かの手に届く一碗へ。

茶会の中心には、一期一会の心がありました。この言葉は、単なる美しい表現ではありません。今この時、この冬、この場所、この人々、この一碗は、二度と同じ形では戻ってこない。そのことを本当に感じる時、何気ない所作も深い意味を持ちます。座ること、見ること、礼をすること、茶碗を受け取ること、沈黙すること。そのすべてが、一度きりの出会いになります。

茶の湯において、季節は飾りではありません。最後に添えられるものでもありません。季節は、茶会そのものの静かな言葉です。部屋の空気、花、菓子、光、そして亭主がその日をどのように受け止めるか。そのすべてに季節が宿ります。今回の季節は、まさに境にありました。古いものと新しいもの、冬と春、スロベニアの祭りの音と日本の茶の静けさのあいだに。

案内状には、二つの面が描かれていました。一つはスロベニアのプストを思わせ、もう一つは日本の鬼を思わせます。色鮮やかで、にぎやかで、どこか楽しげです。しかしその奥には、静かな問いがあります。私たちは前へ進むために、何を見つめ、何を手放さなければならないのでしょうか。

茶会の中で、面は叫びません。鈴は鳴り響きません。火は空間を支配しません。すべては静けさの中に置かれます。外の世界で音として現れるものが、茶の空間では注意深さへと変わります。共同体が行列や音によって送り出すものを、茶の湯は形と秩序と沈黙の中に受け止めます。

そして、一碗が差し出されます。

一碗の茶は小さなものです。しかしその中には、多くのものが入ります。敬意、忍耐、心配り、平等、そして急がずに他者を迎える心。平和は、必ずしも大きな言葉から始まるわけではありません。時には、誰かのために茶を点てるという、あまりにも静かな行為から始まります。

設立10周年の季節の茶会、その第一回は、一つの招きでもありました。茶の湯を遠い国の芸術としてではなく、ここスロベニアの季節、博物館、物語、出会いの中で生きる実践として感じていただくための招きです。

茶会に来る人は、ただ見るために来るのではありません。一つの時に入るのです。時間が少しゆるやかになり、学びがもてなしとなり、文化が言葉だけでなく一碗の茶として差し出される場に入るのです。

これからの季節の茶会にも、どうぞお越しください。そして、茶の湯が心に響いたなら、私たちの会にもぜひ近づいてください。共に学び、共に稽古し、一度きりの出会いの静かな美しさを、共に育てていければ幸いです。