Tea ceremony is one of the traditional art forms developed in the mid-16th century in Japan. Since 1993, I have been practicing Japanese tea ceremony under Akiyama Soyo, who has the professor title from the Urasenke tea ceremony school.

At Wa-Shin-An teahouse in Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, on May 9, 2014

From left: Bryan Wright, Melinda Buckwalter, Anne Prescott (Director of FCCEAS), and Yuko Eguchi

Akiyama Soyo

秋山宗洋先生

   In October 2009, I received the master title of tea ceremony, Soyu (宗裕), certified by current head of Urasenke School, Sen Soshitsu XVI.


   In January 2013, I received the assistant professor title of tea ceremony, Jyun-Kyojyu (準教授), certified by Sen Soshitsu XVI.

    In the fall of 2014, I helped to create a digital curriculum on Japanese tea ceremony which includes the history of tea ceremony, explanations of tea utensils, and resources on tea. One of the highlights of this project is a set of video recordings of the whole sequence of thick and thin tea procedures as well as short videos of individual divided practice movements. The website is hosted by the Five College Center for East Asian Studies (FCCEAS): https://www.fivecolleges.edu/tea_ceremony