| The annual Urasenke Hawaii Seminar was initiated by Hounsai SEN Genshitsu (SEN Soshitsu XV) in 1972, on the occasion of the opening of the tea house Jakuan and surrounding garden named Seien that was donated by Urasenke to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The 2003 seminar counted as the 31st time for it to take place. There were forty-seven participants, including two from the US mainland and nine invited youths who study chado at their regular schools in Japan under the Gakko Chado program managed by Chado Urasenke Tankokai, Inc. The forty-seven convened in Hawaii on July 18, for the inaugural meeting and luncheon held at the Outrigger Reef On the Beach, where they were greeted by Dr. Sen and his sister SHIOTSUKI Yaeko. On July 19, the Chado Urasenke Tankokai Hawaii Association hosted a friendship tea for them at the Seikoan tearoom within the Hawaii Japanese Cultural Center, and in the evening a welcome banquet at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. On July 20 and 21, there was a specially arranged lecture program at the Korean Studies Center Auditorium at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Sen delivered lectures on both days, and the other speakers were Former University of Hawaii President Fujio MATSUDA, and East-West Center Adjunct Fellow Siegfried RAMLER. At the end, the participants each received a certificate showing they had taken part in this special outreach program at the university, and later they were guests of the university's chado club for a friendship tea at the Jakuan and neighboring Jefferson Hall. Here, they also saw a demonstration of the decorating techniques used in producing Hawaiian ceramics. The eve of July 21, they were among the more than two hundred guests at a banquet sponsored by Dr. Sen at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. |
