• [✓ aequivinius, 2026-03-12]Prepare the 大炉 this year!

• まゆ団子 on the 14.1.
• Winter solstice is on the 21 / 23 XII, so astrologically, it is already spring and the days get longer. Yet, the great cold, 大寒(だいかん), usually around the 22 I, is still ahead.
• On New Year's Day, 井華水(せいかすい) or 若水(わか　みず), which is water drawn between 0200 and 0400 (the hour of the tiger) and is considered especially pure, is drawn. This then is used to make 大福茶(おおぶくちゃ), which is tied to happiness and long life and is a mix of 煎茶, 昆布 and dried plum. 小山園 and 上林 also have 抹茶 with that name.
• If there's fresh snow, boil it in the kettle. ML explained that the Chinese collect the snow from the pines for this, feeling particularly poetic while doing so.
• Then there's 初釜, of course!

• Often you see 真台子 this time of the year. I prefer to do the 台子 点前 in summer, when the cool movements seem more fitting for me, so I prefer the 紹鴎棚. In either case, you can decorate the 台子 with the papers like in 名水! (Maybe red and white ribbons are particularly suitable?)
  • Apart from that, the 誰が袖棚 is not a bad idea, through the association of 着物袖 and 梅 scent.

• Good symbols are
  • 松 (for long life, such as 老松, 唐松)
  • 曙 (like the 淡々斎好み red 棗)
  • Willows tied into a circle
  • 島台, red and white, the Seven Gods of Fortune, who live on 蓬莱(ほらい) mountain, and come with a 宝船(たからぶね), a treasure ship.
  • 寒月(かんげつ), the cold, indifferent moon that drains warmth of all.
• 初草(はつ　くさ) is a 名物 茶入 that is completely plain brown. It reminds us of the brown grass in the melting snow, that bears the promise of rebirth. See 侘び. KM said (I 24) it would be better to use 雪間草(ゆき　ま　くさ) as 御銘, though. I did an entire 茶事 with that theme!
• In the same vein, one student used 早蕨(さわらび) in I 24, which is some rolled up, edible fern that represents spring.
• 雲海(うんかい) for a 茶碗, with the clouds that bring rain and thus life, and the sea that brings forth all. Because the bowl is something that carries the present of the tea, it is quite suitable.

• Most of it is from Ulrich

➡️ I guess anything with 初 is fine. KM suggested I use 初笑い, for example.

- Bashō

• Mittwer suggests narcissus in bronze:

• 千 recommends Camellia bud and ornamental wild greenery in a two-tiered bar bamboo container with a gold-on-black lacquer design tortoises and waves on the inside: