Assistant Manager blog Sarah [2023.12月]

Hello again!

Hope you are all staying warm in this winter month! Sarah here writing about flowers, for the month of December!

This month, in all private gardens and on the side of the houses, manryō (万両) has been proudly displaying its red berries, appearing so vivid in contrast to the grey sky of winter.

Manryo, the Japanese name for Ardisia crenata, is an East Asian native plant, consistin of a small shrub, with long glossy leaves. The plant produces many bright red berries, organised in clusters, which hang downward from the branches.

This plant is representative of the end-of year period, and it often decorates tea garden. Moreover, manryo was the main character in the ikebana that decorated the tea room of my tea ceremony teacher this month.

As the manryo was decorating the narrow roads of Wazuka and of its tea rooms, we too, at Obubu, thought that some festive decoration would have been ideal for the first Christmas at Obubu. In the past, in the period going from Christmas to New Year, Obubu had never hosted interns, until this year. Our two Interns (Jason and Chris) and three Assistant Managers embraced the festive atmosphere of the first Obubu Christmas with a tree and a potluck dinner.

This, however, was not the only peculiarity of this December. At the beginning of the month, one week was dedicated to the first rundowns of the event that we will be offering to guests starting from March 2024 (info and booking here: Mochi, Wagashi, Pottery, Hand-rolling). One day our hands were making beautiful cups under the direction of Atsuko-sensei, and the following we were pounding mochi with a big hammer, under the supervision of Toshi-san (our “Mochi-man”), but not before having decorated traditional Wagashi with Ishida-sensei. That has probably been one of funniest week at Obubu so far! We all can’t wait to share these experiences with all of you!