Despite the fact that I’m a huge fan of Japanese tea, I’ve only attended a tea once, as part of my finishing school course. With the brashness of youth, I agreed to be the 正客 (main guest) and with a lot of prompting from the teachers and guest lecturers, somehow made it through the ceremony. Looking back, I regret not taking that initial spark of interest and using that to start learning the Japanese tea ceremony, because if I had, I might have had a fuller understanding of why it is so meaningful. But since I have not, Morishita’s book is the closest thing that I have to experiencing the beauty of the tea ceremony again, so thank you, Japan Library for sending me a copy!

Every Day a Good Day is a collection of essays by Noriko Morishita as she tells us about her journey learning tea. She started out confused and questioning but over the course of the years, managed to understand the beauty of the tea ceremony and put that into words for us. I had vaguely known, but hadn’t realised, the importance of the seasons to the tea ceremony, the understanding that comes only from doing, the importance of living in the present, and why tea is described as a lifelong journey of learning.

As you can see, the things you gain from the tea ceremony are not confined to the world of tea. Morishita deftly weaves in her personal life and we can see how her personal growth affects her understanding of the tea ceremony and how the tea ceremony, in turn, helps her to face the difficult periods of her life. Two chapters that brought tears to my eyes were the ones about her job hunt and the passing of her father.

To be clear, this book is not an instructional text on how the tea ceremony works or how you can learn to master it. Every Day a Good Day is a love letter to the beauty of the tea ceremony and a very moving account of the role of tea in her life. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in the ‘why’ behind the tea ceremony.

If you’re interested in reading about the theoretical side of the tea ceremony, I’d recommend Making Tea, Making Japan, to find out about the connection between the tea ceremony and the Japanese identity, as well as Cultivating Femininity, which focuses specifically on the history of women in the tea ceremony.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Japan Library but all opinions in the review are my own.