Zerudas Wonderland: August 2012

Monday, August 27, 2012

Zui-Ki-Tei

The most amazing experience in my life was my visit to the Japanese teahouse recently.

Zui-Ki-Tei is located at the Etnographic Museeum in Stockholm. It's name means "the house of the promising light". "Zui" means promising, but is also the character for "Sweden". "Ki" means "shining light" and is related to Japan the land of the rising sun. "Tei" means hut or small house. Read in this way the name underlines the good relationship between Japan and Sweden.

The architect for Zui-Ki-Tei is Nasao Nakamura. He planned the house, and he also planned the garden. When entering the universe of this teahouse I felt like Mr. Nakamura must be one of the most brilliant persons on earth. He totally blew my mind away with every little brilliant and stunning detail.

This was really an experience above anything I've ever experianced before.

First. A picture of the whole teahouse. I didn't manage to take such a picture, because there are too many trees and bushes around it today. This picture is probably from around 1990 when the Teahouse was built. [picture source]

Secondly. A picture from inside the teahouse. [picture source]

And now. On to my own pictures. It's quite small and we weren't the only guests so I had trouble of shooting without having strangers in the pictures.

This is the best shot I could get of the whole teahouse. The right section is the bigger tea room, and the section the the left contains a smaller one. The entrance to the little tea room is actually just the small hatch in the left corner of the building. (which is open in the first borrowed picture in this post).

This is the entrance to the inner garden.

The small building to the right is a "waiting room" or what to call it. When you are invited to a tea cermony this is where you wait for the host to welcome you. The woman in the picture is our guide. The used the backdoor to the teahouse. We however followed the right path to the teahouse.

This is where you wash you hands before a tea ceremony.

The garden has these paths of stones. Selected by Mr. Nakamura himself. They are arranged perfectly to walk with a certain balance and pace.

And now, some pictures from inside. Every tiny little thing amazed me about this building, the wood, the tatami carpets, the brilliant design to cycle the air, the paper doors. It seems Mr. Nakamura took every little thing into close consideration. Everything is so well planned. He constructed this house specifically so it would survive the Swedish winters, and took into account choices of wood.

Mr. Nakamura also choose the location for this teahouse. I admit, It's absolutely perfect. It's uphill, with a river quite close by. Mr. Nakamura planned it well and incorporated the water theme into the teahouse with a wave design on the glass doors, he also selected a blue beautiful wallpaper inside to match the theme.

And lastly. A picture from the outer garden. I actually forgot to take more photos of it. They had bushes cut in a round shape to imitate the tea bushes. Very beautiful. And also a lot of these Lady's mantle.