2025/11/19

On Thursday, November 6, members of the Tea Ceremony Club at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS) held a tea ceremony in a traditional Japanese-style room in Kyoto City Hall.

The 20th World Conference of Historical Cities was held from Tuesday, November 4 to Wednesday November 5 in Himeji. Kyoto City, which serves as the chairperson and secretariat for the conference's host organization, the League of Historical Cities (LHC), requested that the tea ceremony be held in Kyoto as a special excursion event for conference participants.

During the ceremony, five members of the KUFS Tea Ceremony Club played the parts of host, assistant to the host, confection server and so forth, entertaining the various LHC directors. Because most participating directors were from other countries—Slovenia, Poland, South Korea, China and elsewhere —the ceremony was primarily conducted in English.

This was the first time for student members of the club to host a tea ceremony for visiting foreign dignitaries, so they began thoroughgoing preparations well in advance of the event. Komachi Nagarekawa, a third-year student in the Department of Global Tourism, Faculty of Global Engagement who serves as head of the Tea Ceremony Club, played the role of host. Reflecting on the event, she commented, "This was the first time for me to host a tea ceremony for VIPs invited from abroad, so I was nervous. However, all of our practice really paid off, and it proved to be a very rewarding experience."

Yuki Sakai, a first-year student in the Department of Global Studies, Faculty of Global Engagement, who served as assistant to the host and took on the daunting task of explaining in English how to drink the tea properly, the details of the room's traditional alcove and so forth, expressed her sense of accomplishment: "I was so relieved when the ceremony ended in success! It made me happy that our guests from abroad were pleased, because we spent a lot of time preparing and practicing together with other students and teachers."

The participating LHC directors said that they had a wonderful time at the tea ceremony, and all present engaged in pleasant conversation and exchanges afterward.

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