Welcome to Wind in the Pod: Through a Tearoom Window! This is a podcast series from the Japanese tearoom, Senshin’an 洗心庵, in the Watson Galleries on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Professor Janet Ikeda shares the lessons she has learned from teaching a course on “chanoyu” (sometimes translated as “tea ceremony”) to undergraduate students and mentoring a student organization known as the “Chanoyu Tea Society.”

The tearoom is an integral part of a course LIT223 “Food and Tea in Japan.” One component of the course is a cultural lab held in the tearoom where students master the fundamentals of a beginning procedure known as “tray tea.” The space is also used regularly by the student organization known as the “Chanoyu Tea Society” for numerous public and private tea demonstrations throughout the year. Besides used as a classroom and as an outreach venue, the tearoom is a beautiful work of art to be enjoyed by all who visit the Watson Galleries. Please take a moment out of your day to visit the Watson Galleries and sit quietly in front of Senshin’an.