The ancestor of the Japanese tea ceremony, Senritsu, has such a story.
Li Xiu watched his son Shao An clean the garden, and when the son finished, he said that the garden was not clean enough and asked to be redone. The son exhausted his strength, the stone steps were washed three times, and there was not a single branch or leaf on the ground, and it was spotless.
But Li Xiu scolded him: "Stupid, the garden is so clean." He walked into the garden, shaking the trees, and the red and yellow leaves were scattered on the ground, and in the blink of an eye, it was a scene of autumn loneliness.
Hidden in this is the secret of Japanese culture:
They have a unique aesthetic interest, valuing the relationship with nature, valuing a strong sense of form, and valuing the inner influence of art.
Through this story, we may be able to get a glimpse of the essence of the movie "Every Day is a Good Day" and the spiritual world of tea ceremony culture it depicts.
This typical Japanese life flow movie does not have a plot of thousands of turns, but uses four seasons to hook up with the twenty-four solar terms, so that the heroine Noriko (Kuroki Hua) 24 years of learning tea ceremony life flows like a marquee.
It is only 100 minutes, but it carries the half life of the original author, Noriko Morishita.
The young Noriko was expecting to find the things she loved all her life in college, but she always felt at a loss for life, couldn't find a goal, wasn't frank enough about the world, and didn't have the straight-forward style of her cousin Michiko (played by many unwashed children).
Under Michiko's tutelage, Noriko begins to learn tea ceremony with Takeda Sensei (Kiki Kirin). In the eyes of his parents, this teacher also greeted and saluted, but his movements were elegant and decent, and he was very personable.
At the beginning of learning the tea ceremony, the noriko did not have such a demeanor, the movements of the tea ceremony were strictly standardized, and even walking through a piece of tatami mat to take a few steps was stipulated, which made the frizzy Noriko and Michiko confused, and there were many questions in their hearts:
Why do I use my wrist when ordering tea? Why do I draw a hiragana character for "ゆ" (yu) when rubbing a tea bowl with a veil?
To the surprise of the two people who are accustomed to Western-style education and culture, Takeda-sensei never explains why, she tells the students that the tea ceremony should first be shaped by the heart, do not think with the brain, but let the body remember the form and movement.
This is also the "keeping form" (also known as "keeping the shape") that beginners need to do as Mentioned by Qian Lixiu. Only by keeping the form in mind (rather than using the brain) can we enter the higher realm of "breaking" and "leaving".
The relationship between the body and the heart has always been the proposition of director Ryuji Omori, but in his previous works, this relationship has been extremely strong, whether it is sex in "Goodbye Valley" or violence in "Light", all around the stinging of the body to inflict painful torture on the spirit, and "Day is a Good Day" tries to make this relationship say goodbye to discord and return to a natural state.
Life is still painful, but with the help of a very introspective and restrained tea ceremony culture, director Omori tries to find a new path:
Is there a way to resolve the dilemma of the mind full of pain and unwillingness, in addition to the extreme confrontation, is there a way to withdraw from oneself and calmly seek reconciliation?
Of course, in a short period of time, Noriko could not understand the meaning of the tea ceremony, and she once thought about giving up, and what supported her to stay was only unwilling to give up halfway at first.
It was hard to remember the action of a set of teas, but I was told that there was summer tea in summer and winter tea in winter, and the joy of thinking that I was a "beginner" was fleeting.
Young people, the sex still has to be grinded.
Taking hot water from the tea ceremony needs to sink to the bottom of the kettle, and the three tastes of life can only be tasted for the first time after experiencing the grinding of the world. The unsophisticated Noriko walked out of the university door for many years, encountered setbacks in job hunting and love affairs, practiced on the tea ceremony for ten years and did not see "progress", and the teacher said that she was "rough in her movements", which aggravated the frustration.
The tea ceremony has never completely changed Noriko's life experience like other Japanese professional films (films depicting a certain profession), and her life is still like most ordinary people, gradually moving away from ideals as she grows older, and encounters a series of unsatisfactory things.
The tea ceremony is just a silent and constant change in her attitude towards living with life and with herself.
At the lowest point of his life, the tea ceremony became a refuge for Noriko. Due to the cheating of the marriage partner, Noriko was in a depressed mood for three months and did not learn the tea ceremony, and when she returned to the classroom, Takeda Sensei's comfort was like a spring breeze: "Even if you give up the tea ceremony, it is nothing, even if you just come to drink good tea, isn't it good?" ”
Time, and the repetition of the practice single-mindedly, is the true gateway to the tea ceremony– although there is no end to it.
After more than twenty years of practice, Noriko gradually immersed her mind in it, and even felt the subtle difference between the sound of holding hot water and holding cold water.
It doesn't matter whether this difference exists or not, what matters is the power of single-minded attention to bring about changes in the state of mind and introspection. It is no wonder that the Japanese philosopher Shinichi Kumatsu called the tea ceremony "Zen of Life".
When the tea ceremony gives the originally numb and dazed Dianzi a delicate perception, greater life pains come unexpectedly. The father died suddenly, and the premonitioned Noriko did not see his father for the last time.
"Every Day is a Good Day" is like an unobtrusive tea party, until the end of the film let you taste the most mellow taste -
"The tea ceremony is a cult of 'mutilation,' a gentle temptation to achieve some possible perfection in a life that we all understand is impossible to be perfect." (Okakura Tenshin, "The Book of Tea")
This is the real title of the film, the tea ceremony is not just a refuge when life is lonely, but should become a way of life that can be enjoyed no matter the bitterness of life.
"Listen to the rain on rainy days, watch the snow on snow days, experience the heat in summer, and feel the cold in winter." No matter what kind of day, I will enjoy it with all my heart. ”
This is also the meaning of the title "Day is a Good Day" (allusion from the Zen case in the Chinese Song Dynasty "Biyan Record") meaning, there is no so-called "bad weather", just as there is no bad life, if you can enjoy it, any day is a good day.
After her father's death, Noriko saw her father's figure on the imaginary seashore, and watched the cherry blossoms scattered in front of the porch with Takeda Sensei, all of which left tears, which were completely different from the tears of grievances that she had suffered in life, it was a reconciliation of the self, the integration of emotions, and even contained the realization of beauty.
Cherry blossoms, death, and the flow of the four seasons are integrated into the realm of "harmony, respect, purity, and silence" advocated by the tea ceremony, and also represent the "material sorrow" advocated by Japanese culture — in short, the perception of all things.
Feelings of impermanence and perishability are like Noriko's association with a waterfall when watching scrolls, the green grass trail in her mind when ordering tea, and the late father who has gone to the seaside when listening to the rain.
The Japanese tea ceremony pays attention to "one period and one meeting", no matter how long the years are, the seasons are cyclical, every tea party should be cherished, and each encounter should be regarded as the only time in a lifetime.
The film, as the last work of Kiki Shirin, adds to the perception of bitterness like strong tea.
In recent years, she has interpreted many ordinary, life-like mother figures in Kore-eda's works, and "Every Day is a Good Day" allows us to see another kind of tree, Shirin, who shows calm elegance with her hands and feet, and her tea ceremony skills are even considered by the original author Morishita Noriko to be no different from her real-life tea ceremony teacher.
And Kuroki Hua, the most "harmonious" among young actors, is also appropriate to play the growing noriko.
The tea ceremony always gives people the impression that the form is complicated and difficult to approach, and "Every Day is a Good Day" gives a popular science lesson to the general audience in an easy and fresh way while chewing the bitterness of life.
The film's Noriko spent 24 years to understand the meaning of "every day is a good day", and the 100 minutes of a movie certainly can't fully appreciate the charm of the tea ceremony.
However, as the original author Noriko Morishita said, the practice of tea ceremony is harsh but also inclusive, she has been studying for 24 years before it begins, and beginners do not have to be afraid of the end -
"If someone tastes tea, there is a tea ceremony, and perhaps the tea ceremony is a reflection of the person himself."
Everyone's opinion may be a world of tea.