On day number four of our tea trip three Japanese and one German girl overslept. There was no time for breakfast and in a hurry, they finished packing and joined the others, who were also dressed formal and neat. We were prepared for a special event – visiting a friend and teacher of our sensei.

We split the big group in two smaller ones. My group was the first one to drive to our famous host, who is a pottery maker and descendent of an old ceramist family. Knowing that the implements for making tea ceremony are very important one can imagine, how near to holy a traditional potter and his stunning work is to someone interested in Cha-no-kai. We were invited to matcha with delicious sweets and an appearently very nice talk I couldn’t understand a word of. Then we could see some of his art works and the huge kiln. Can you imagine, that the clay needs to rest in air for 40 years, before it’s used for making pottery? Absolutely stunning!! We also painted some simple cups, which was a nice way of producing a souvenir. Let’s see how and if mine will find it’s way to Germany.

We switched groups (I also switched into a pair of easier walking shoes) and went to the Matsue Castle, which is a relatively small, but very nice one. Before reuniting we again had some Soba and bought some Omiyage (Souvenirs) for families and friends.

Alltogether we went to one last museum, which exhibited some extraordenary pieces of pottery. Once again I experienced, that things can become intensively facinating, when you allow yourself a second look.

We spend the other half of the day traveling back to Kyoto, where I reunited with my father and to catch a good night of nearly enough sleep before leaving for our Japan tour. Resting… finally!