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h儀光寺（松山市古三津）で日本文化体験ツアーとしてお茶会が開かれました。写真に見られるとおり、日差しの強い日でしたが、お寺の中はそれ程暑くありませんでした。
Sophia Club hosted a Japanese tea party at Giko shrine (Furu-mitsu, Matsuyama-shi) as an event of the Japanese Culture Experience Tour. As you can see in the picture in the left, it was a relatively hot day. Nevertheless, the shrine offered us with a comfy and cool environment.
お茶会に参加してくださったメンバーの方たちです。皆さん日本語が随分達者（多分私より上手）でお寺の方たちもビックリされていました。アメリカで日本語を話す機会のない私は、メンバーの方たちとスペイン語や英語で会話をしたほうが楽になっていていて・・・・。日本語能力を高める必要性を実感しました。
These were the participants who had kindly taken time to come to the tour. Despite being non-Japanese speakers, they spoke extremely fluent Japanese, and the people at the shrine were doubting their ears and eyes as the members were speaking Japanese. Since I hardly have a chance to speak Japanese in the US, it was much more seemingly natural and easier for me to converse with the members in English combined with a little bit of Spansh.
 
▲観音様と人形たち。
雑談をお寺の方と小時間楽しんだ後、本堂に通されました。お坊さんがお経を読み上げて下さり、メンバーの方々も日本の仏教について学ぶことができました。
The picture above shows the statue of the goddess of Kannon. I might be wrong to describe Kannon as Goddess as the priest vehemently insisted the sexuality of Kannon is neutral, and the understanding of Kannon is beyond our sense of determining sexuality.
After a small chat with two shrine staffs, we were led to the main praying place in the shrine. The priest intoned a buddist sutra, and the members had a chance to learn the teaching of Japanese Buddism.
 
愛媛新聞社の社長さんのお父さんが描かれたという天女の絵。今から80年ほど前に書かれたそうです。モット前に書かれたかと勝手に想像していたので、80年とは驚きでした。右の写真は本堂からみたお寺のエントランスです。
The picture in the left shows two Buddist Angels. On contrary to general perception, the sexualities of the Angels are also unknown and beyond our sense of comprehension. Father of the current Ehime Shimbun drew the picture about 80 years ago from now. I and Ms. Tamanoi initially thought it was much more older, so the priest's informing was a big surprise to us. The picture shown in the right is the entrance of the shrine sighted from the main building.
 
本堂のご紹介の後はいよいよ茶室に移動開始。家屋の中にある池で少量の水（ししおどしのような、竹筒から流れてくる水）を飲み、とても小さい四角の入り口を通って茶室に入ります。左の写真はソフィア倶楽部事務局の玉乃井さん。右の写真は水が注がれている石タブ（？）です。
After the introduction of the main building, we were led to tea room. After we had drunken little amount of water in the stone sink, we went into the room through a very small squared hole. A member with massive body from the Latin America area had very hard time trying to fit into the hole. Ms. Tamanoi of Sophia Club is in the left picture. The right picture shows the stone sink providing water.
 
フルーツ（びわ）の形をした茶菓子が出されました。おいしいお菓子でした。右の写真は茶のこころを説明してくださっているお茶の先生と説明を熱心に聞いている韓国からの国際交流員さんです。
The shrine staff took care to give us sweets that are shaped like medlars. Usually, this kind of sweets (called Chagashi) is given when drinking a cup of bitter green tea. The sweets were very tasty and sweet. The right picture shows the shrine staff explicating the spirit of Japanese tea culture and a Korean international student assiduously listening to the explanation.
 
 
儀光寺さんで、とても心のこもったおもてなしをしていただきました。その歴史を感じる佇まいと和のおもてなしは、日本古文化に興味のある方をきっと満足させてくれることでしょう。
We have received very warm and sincere treatments from Gikoji. The historically beautiful buildings and speckless treatment would satisfy interests of anybody who is willing to experience and learn the values of the old Japanese Culture.
(Editor: iku_yuki)
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