Tea Room

The Tea Room at the Hammond

 

So-Oku Sen, the next Grand Tea Master of the Mushakoji School, was assigned by the Japanese Government as a Cultural Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2010. During that time, as he made NYC the center of his activities, the renowned fine art dealer Koichi Yanagi had offered his East Side gallery at 17 East 71st Street to be the temporary home of Mr. Sen’s tea practice.  

 

Mr. Yanagi installed a tea room, custom designed in Japan, to be the showcase for the Cultural Ambassador's stay in New York. Sen So-Oku, a 17th generation descendant of the originator of Japanese tea ceremony, Sen Rikyu, was intent on sharing his tradition of tea in very innovative ways to the American people and the world.

 

His way of tea was featured in the Wall Street Journal as “the tea ceremony of the 21st Century. 

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