Hello friends! Are you looking for something interesting to do one afternoon?
皆さん！お暇な日、何か面白いことをしたくないですか？

Recently my colleagues and I went to Gyokuro no Sato (玉露の里) in Okabe near Yaizu. It’s a darling little tea house tucked up in the mountains with friendly and welcoming staff. Myself and my colleagues have been helping them with their English leaflets and tea ceremony instructions and will be there to assist you personally on April 24th (Sun), May 25th (Wed), and June 4th (Sat).
最近、同僚と一緒に焼津の近くの岡部で「玉露の里」というお茶室を訪れました。山の方で小さくて素敵なお茶室で、スタッフが明るくて親切です。今、私たちはチラシやお茶の作り方を英語に訳しています。特に、私達は４月２４日（土）・５月２５日（水）・６月４日（日）にいますよ！

For just 820 yen (so cheap!) you can enjoy delicious gyokuro tea and wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) with a view of the pond and beautiful garden.
８２０円だけで綺麗な景色と一緒に美味しい玉露と和菓子を楽しめます。

You also get to make your own tea!
自分で玉露を作ってみることもできますよ！

While you may be able to drink tea in the main room in Kyoto’s tea houses, it’s almost impossible to find one that will let you explore the entire building. Gyokuro no Sato normally welcomes tour buses that travel from Narita to Kyoto experiencing different tea houses. They make a special stop in Okabe because this tea house lets you tour the entire residence and gardens.
京都のお茶室では抹茶を飲むのに、お茶室の中を全て見るのは珍しいことなんです。成田から京都までのツアーバスは、玉露の里に行くために岡部に止まります。なぜかというと、お茶室の全部を見たい方が多いからだそうです。

The real entrance to any tea house is through a door this size!
お茶室の本当の入口はこんなに小さいんですよ！

The reason they had doors this size was tactical. It’s absolutely unthinkable to ask a samurai to remove his sword but if you have a tiny door that won’t fit a sword through it, what’s a tea house to do? No sword-removal, no entry.
こんな小さな入口には理由があります。お侍さんに剣を外すことを頼むのは言語道断だったけれど、付けたままでこんな小さな入口には入れないからお侍さんも外すしかなかったんですね。

Way back when, it was easy for those in kimonos and yukatas to enter because you just kneel to get in and then you are already in the seiza (kneeling) position, ready to receive tea. From this picture below, the room looks (and felt) spacious enough, but look at the ceiling! We had to be careful not to bump our heads when standing up.

この下の写真を見ると、部屋が広そうに感じますだが、天井をご覧ください！本当に頭をぶつけないように、気を付けなければなりません。

Here is where the samurai used to wait to be let into the tea house. Doesn’t it look like a little bus stop? To imagine samurais waiting here for their tea is comical!
ここはお侍さんが待っていたところです。可愛いバス停みたい！お侍さんもここで待っていたと思うと面白いですね！

The tea house has a delightful theme to it – water gourds and the moon! For a challenge, try and see how many gourds and moons you can find around the tea house!
玉露の里は素敵なテーマがあります：月とひょうたん！皆さん、チャレンジ！月とひょうたんの家具を探してみてください！

The water gourd was not only eaten, but then dried to be used as flasks for containing water, alcohol, medicine and seeds. It was often said that seeds kept in these flasks bloomed the most successfully, and so they soon came to signify happiness or success. Born a peasant, the shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi adopted the gourd as his emblem and attached a gourd to his spear before going into battle.
ひょうたんは食用だけではなく、乾かして、水・酒・薬や種を持ち歩くために使われていました。このような持ち歩いていた種は一番の成功の花を咲かせると言われていたので、ひょうたんは幸せや成功という意味になっていきました。豊臣秀吉将軍は百姓の家で生まれ、自分のしるしがなかったため、ひょうたんを身につけました。そして、戦があるごとに、ひょうたんを槍につけ、増やしていきました。

Please come and enjoy it with us on April 24th, May 25th, or June 4th!
だから、皆さん！４月２４日・５月２５日・６月４日に私達と一緒にお茶室を楽しみにきてください！

Gyokuro no Sato is easily accessible from Yaizu JR station. The no. 2 bus headed to Asahina stops at Gyokuro no Sato and takes 40 minutes.

ご参加にはご予約が必要です。ご参加ご希望の方はホップステップジャンプまでメールをお送りください。

For more information visit:
詳しくはこちら：

http://fujiedaonpaku.jp/program/201624021312

or to make a direct reservation, contact:

info@hopstepjumpenglish.com
(one week in advance)