水分 Mikumari / Mikomori
' One Sky, One World ' recently joined the World Peace Celebration of Amsterdam 2016 last September 11 at Oude Luthers Kerk. The celebration is on its 8th year. International Day of Peace is normally held on the 21st of September worldwide. However, the church is available to us only on weekends, thus it opted to conduct the gathering last September 11 in consonance with the 911 Memorial. We were privileged to be part of the World Peace Celebration of Amsterdam. We hosted a tea ceremony dubbed as One Sky, One World to showcase some Japanese fine arts. The ceremony symbolizes harmony, equality, sharing of resources, life and hope. This concept was created by Mr.Yoshikuni Katsu and myself because we share a common vision and mission. It highlighted serving of roasted tea, improvisation music performanced by Naomi Sato, parading of traditional Kimonos which are made by Mr. Hiroya Fujii and our own home-made sweets, Mikumari. I personally created Mikumari for World Peace day 2016. The ceremony is further viewed by One Sky, One World as a prayer for the people who lost their lives in the 911 tragedy. It also prays for World Peace especially at this time of global misunderstanding and war.
The following is included within the flyer. On the left side states the details of the tea ceremony; on the right side are the events of the program. The flyer was made by Mr. Shinji Kasema who is the main organizer of the event. At the bottom is the Japanese translation of the details of the tea ceremony.
茶会の詳細は末尾にあります。
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和訳：
’水分（みくまり）’ とは古事記に登場する水の配分を司る神の名で、天の恵みの雨水が流れ配られる様子を神格化したもの。水分の神は、後世訛って 'みこもり（御子守・身籠り）' となり、子宝、安産に霊験あらたかな神として信仰を集めることとなった。生命の源である、水をめぐる地球人意識の絆をあらわす儀式的な菓子として考案。本日の茶会も、日本での普通のお茶のほっとする香りを、格式張った本式のしつらえを離れあたかも家にいるように楽しみつつ、皆が1つの空を分かち合い、調和におもいをはせるよう誘うことをねらいとしている。