- Used in February exclusively at 今日庵, invented by
玄々斎 for a 6-mat room that's in 逆勝手. - If you look at the 手前, it is actually very suited to do it in 逆勝手!
- Basically: Because the 釜 sits closer to the 手前座, everything focuses around that corner. So the 炭斗 lives near that corner, the 釜 goes out there; and all the purification is also focused around it. Also, becuase you don't have a 灰器, the 手前 is actually quite simple and beautiful!
- In 池庵, I am building what I punnily call a
誇大炉 : It still fits the outer dimensions of a normal 炉 (that is, 42.5 ⨉ 42.5 cm), but the 炉壇 and 炉縁 are much thinner. Together with using 風炉 五徳・釜・炭, it gives the impression of a true 大炉.
本勝手 手前
- It's a bit of a conjecture, mixing normal 逆勝手 and 大炉, but it works quite smoothly, I think.
- Preparation: The 釜 is in the corner closest to where you'll do 点前; and the 炭斗 is packed for 逆勝手 (香合 to the L, 羽 and 火箸 to the R). In 大炉, the 灰匙 and the moist ash are already in the 炉! The 釜敷 goes into the 着物 as it would in 本勝手 winter.
- Entering: You come in with the 炭斗, and because you need no 灰器, you close the door with it 🤯. In my room, the steps are a bit odd. Remember to take small steps once on the 手前座!
- Put the 炭斗 down, remembering to leave enough room for the 鐶.
- Shift in front of the 釜, and unpack the 炭斗 as you would normally in 逆勝手 with the L (still 羽・鐶・箸・香合). Place the 羽 and 火箸 close to the 畳 border, because you need the space above them for the 香合.
- For the 香合, though, you take it with the R. In my case, that means that I have to shift ever so slightly to make it look comfortable. Place it above the 羽.
- Open:
- Close 釜 lid, attach 鐶, take out 釜敷 (place to your L), shift forward, take 釜, shift to 45°, place 釜 in the middle of the 畳 and the 鐶 on the ¼ line. Shift back to end up in a very comfortable distance.
- With the 羽, unfortunately, you need to pick it up with L and then do the purification with R. It's 10 strokes for the first feather (and then 6 and 6). The feather then lives diagonally between the 炭斗 and the 釜 to your L.
- Take 火箸 L, R (undergrip), adjust grip in front of your R knee, and move starter coal.
- 灰:
- Because there's no 灰器, leave the 炭斗 where it is.
- Just take the 灰匙 with R and scoop the ash. You start close to the 雪輪, from bottom to top and make a diamond shape as you would normally (just rotated by 90° CW). Even the re-holding for step 4 is quite easy.
- The middle feather is 6 strokes. It only cleans the 炉壇, because the 灰 never goes over the 炉縁!
- 炭:
- Take 火箸 with L, take the handle with R and turn their tip towards the 炭斗, then keep them in L to take the 同炭 with R.
- Adjust the grip in front of your R knee, then take the 炭 from the R side of the 炭斗 and fill it in on the side closer to the 雪輪. The 枝炭 end up closer to the 炭斗 with their bottom ends.
- When putting the 火箸 back (with L), make sure you make them peek out enough so you can easily take them with an underhand grip later when handling the 香合!
- Final feather is again 6 strokes. It goes onto the 炭斗 afterwards as always.
- 香:
- The lid squats relative to the middle of the 炭斗. From there, directly take the 火箸 with R with an underhand grip, rehold and put the 香 into the hot ashes. Place them back again with that underhand grip.
- After the 拝見 request, you place it again where it was before (only turned).
- Close:
- Shift to 45°, get the 釜, put it in, get the 釜敷, adjust, put the 鐶 into the 炭斗.
- Shift so that the 炉縁 line is in your middle to pick up the 炭斗.
- 座箒:
- Because I don't have the dust hole, I come in with the 座箒 in R and the dust bin in L. Place the bin at the end of the line marking the 手前座, then step in with 5 steps.
- Keep sitting on your heels. Hold your R knee with L, and shift towards the exit as you sweep.
- 10 strokes (6 is re-held), stand up, take the dust bin and 建水まわり.
- Place 座箒 onto the bin and close the door.
- Post 拝見:
- Come in and sit in front of the 釜. Clean the 炉縁, clean the lid and open it.
- Then shift to discuss the 香合. If they're nice guests, they put it on the 点前 side of the 釜.
