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Sen-no-Rikyu
Hits The Ceiling
By
Robert Brady, (KJ12, 1989)
Sen-no-Rikyu drops by my house
two or three times a year, when he's in town in this dimension, or when
this town is in that dimension, I'm not sure which. Anyway, he usually
comes by to bone up on English, current baseball stats and what not.
I mean, he's sophisticated of course, but not totally so; he doesn't
let it get in the way of a good time. So I was surprised to read how
fussy he was about the tea ceremony being very simple. Humble almost.
That's why when he came to town last time I showed him the tea ceremony
stats. The HQs of the various schools and so forth. Tea ceremony
houses in gold and like that. His mouth dropped open. He stammered.
I told him how much money was involved, the pyramid arrangement. He
hit the ceiling. I told him the price of one teacup by a living teacup
master. He hit the ceiling again. I told him the price of the simple
floppy crude bowls and crocks he'd made back when he got the whole thing
started. He hit the ceiling harder than ever. I had to explain to him
how humility had changed. In his day, humility was dirt and on your
knees and deference and all that. Now, I explained, humility consists
of not quite naming yourself the King of Tea. He got to like the idea,
saw the possibilities. Maybe he'd been too strict he said. Said he'd
look into it the next time he was in town. He's no dummy.
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